The State Department on Thursday warned Americans not to travel to Pakistan and ordered non-essential government personnel to leave the US Consulate in Lahore because of a specific threat to that diplomatic mission.
In a travel warning, the State Department said the presence of several foreign and indigenous terrorist groups posed a potential danger to US citizens throughout Pakistan.
The personnel drawdown at the Lahore consulate was a precautionary measure and wasn’t related to the recent closures of numerous US diplomatic missions in the Muslim world, two US officials said. The consulate in Lahore was scheduled to be closed for the Eid holiday from Thursday through Sunday and no reopening had been scheduled, one of the officials said.
A spokeswoman at the US Embassy in Islamabad, Meghan Gregonis, said, “We received information regarding a threat to the consulate. As a precautionary measure, we are undertaking a drawdown of all except emergency personnel.”
The US is evacuating staff to Islamabad, said Gregonis. Emergency personnel will stay in Lahore and the embassy officials do not know when the consulate in Lahore will reopen. Gregonis said the threat was specific to Lahore.
