Facilitating Pakhtun spectators: Pashto-speaking officers deployed at stadium

CM Shehbaz says about 10,000 personnel deputed for security purpose.

LAHORE: Keeping in view the large number of cricket fans coming to Lahore from Peshawar and Quetta to watch the PSL final, Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif has ordered deployment of Pashto-speaking police officers around Gaddafi Stadium to facilitate the people.

The final match of the Pakistan Super League will be played between Peshawar Zalmi and Quetta Gladiators today (Sunday) and fans have started arriving in droves from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan as well as other parts of the country.

This decision has been made to make the Pashto-speaking cricket fans feel welcomed in Lahore and to dispel the impression of racial profiling.

In a meeting with Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar on Saturday, Shehbaz also rejected the claims of the opposition parties of deputing 60,000 law enforcement personnel for the PSL final. About 10,000 personnel have been deputed for the match given the magnitude of the event, he clarified.

While both leaders expressed satisfaction on the arrangements made for the PSL final, the Punjab CM thanked the federal government for extending all-out support for the event.

The federal government has also handed over a helicopter for aerial monitoring of the match.

Earlier, Shehbaz presided over a meeting at the Punjab police’s Integrated Command and Control Centre in Qurban Lines to review the overall security plan and arrangements for the PSL final.

While appreciating the ‘excellent’ arrangements for the match, he said 200 students from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, Sindh, Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan have been invited to see the match as special guests of the Punjab government. Another 25 male and female students from Daanish schools and 25 Punjab Education Fund scholars have also been invited to see the match.

In order to make the match memorable, Shehbaz said the security plan and arrangements should be monitored regularly and best meals should be served to police and officials deployed on match duty.

The Home additional chief secretary and Lahore division commissioner gave a briefing on arrangements, saying drone cameras had been banned while first aid arrangements have been made at the stadium, where two mobile hospitals will be available.

The government will also provide free shuttle service to facilitate cricket lovers from specified places to the stadium from 1pm.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 5^th, 2017.