[Dawn] At the US behest, airports across the world introduced enhanced security checks from Monday for citizens of 14 countries, including Pakistan.The measures, implemented in response to the attempted Christmas Day bombing of a US airliner, include extensive full body searches, swabbing of luggage to detect explosives and body scans.
The US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) divided those 14 countries into two categories -- "state sponsors of terrorism and countries of interest".
The US State Department lists Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria as state sponsors of terrorism. The "countries of interest" include Afghanistan, Algeria, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia and Yemen.
This marks the first time that citizens of Pakistan, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia have been singled out for additional screening for flights to the United States.
Also, for the first time Pakistani and Saudi citizens will be patted down automatically before boarding any flight to the United States. Even if that person has lived in a country like Britain for decades, he now will be subject to these extra security checks.
In Washington, TSA announced that "every individual flying into the United States from anywhere in the world travelling from or through nations that are state sponsors of terrorism or other countries of interest will be required to go through enhanced screening".
"The new directive includes long-term, sustainable security measures developed in consultation with law-enforcement officials and our domestic and international partners," the announcement said.
"The directive also increases the use of enhanced screening technologies and mandates threat-based and random screening for passengers on US-bound international flights."
But American citizens, and most others who are not flying through those 14 nations on their way to the United States, will not face the full range of intensified security.