160 majalis declared highly sensitive

Rangers, police make arrangements to ensure safety during Chehlum

KARACHI: Law enforcement agencies — police and Rangers — have chalked out security plans for the Chehlum procession on December 3, in order to avoid any possible act of terrorism in light of warnings issued by intelligence agencies of possible law and order problems.

More than 11,700 security personnel, including policemen, police commandos and Rangers, will be deployed for the security of processions in the city. According to the security plan, there are 142 trouble spots in the city, including 62 in district West, 25 in East and 55 in South.





Nearly 160 mourning processions have been declared highly sensitive and 173 have been declared sensitive. There are 103 imambargahs that fall under the 'most sensitive' category — 145 in the sensitive category, while only 57 are in the normal category.

Police officials were directed to ensure security at masjids, imambargahs and seminaries, particularly those along the procession route. Eight SSPs, 30 SPs and 87 DSPs will be on the security duty, while 471 police mobiles and 347 motorcycle squads will also be deployed.

The Rangers have also chalked out a strategy for Chehlum. According to a statement, a meeting was held at the Sindh Rangers Headquarters chaired by the paramilitary force's director-general Major General Bilal Akbar.



The meeting was also attended by the Karachi commissioner, DG Intelligence Bureau and other senior police and Rangers officials. An aerial surveillance of the main procession will be conducted by the Rangers, while their personnel have been put on high alert, with snap-checking and patrolling being enhanced in entire province.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 1^st,  2015.