'Terror threats' to Gilani, Sharif brothers

The Pakistan government has received intelligence inputs about terrorist threats to the Prime Minister and other top political leaders like opposition Pakistan Muslim League-N chief Nawaz Sharif and his brother Shahbaz. Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani disclosed this during an interaction with the media at Gilgit in the Northern Areas on Wednesday.

He said the federal government had conveyed the reports about the terror threats to the Sharif brothers through the interior ministry. "I had received these reports which were passed on to the Punjab government and security measures

were further strengthened," he said.

Gilani's comments indirectly justified the plea by the PML-N government in Punjab province for postponing bye-elections to four provincial and national assembly seats scheduled for November. The Punjab government has filed a case in the Lahore High Court seeking the postponement of the bye-elections due to security concerns. Gilani refused to comment on the merits of the Punjab government's petition. He did not answer when he was asked why elections could not be held in Pakistan when they had already been held in volatile countries like Iraq and Afghanistan.