The Pakistani Consulate General in Jeddah and its busy schedule were totally disrupted due to an anonymous phone call on Saturday claiming that there was a bomb planted on the premises. Ashfaaq Ahmed, a telephone attendant at the Consulate, received a phone call at 11.35 A.M. in which a man said that there was a bomb somewhere inside the building. Although the anonymous caller spoke Urdu with an accent, Ahmed could not determine the man's nationality. After receiving the call, Ahmed immediately informed his superiors. The Pakistani Press Consul, Muhammed Jameel, said, “After getting the information, the phone attendant asked the caller who he was, but the man hung up without answering. – SG Jameel remained calm because, as he said, he was sure that it was a hoax. According to him, the consulate is normally closed from 11 A.M. to 3 P.M. for processing of visas. Therefore, at the time the call was received, the only people inside the building were consulate staff. “We informed Saudi security officials immediately,” Jameel said, adding that a police bomb squad arrived by 12 noon. The Consulate is located in a busy and congested area with a number of schools nearby. Security officials sealed off the area blocking intersections and not allowing people to come or go. The bomb squad, consisting of a team of eight to ten specialists, took almost 30 minutes to determine that there indeed was no bomb in the building. The bomb hoax disrupted the entire district for more than one hour. However, according to Jameel, the Consulate will be open for business as usual on Sunday.
