Muharram policing: Security plan ready

12,000 policemen to be deployed in city.

LAHORE:

Inspector General (IG) Javed Iqbal has asked all police officers to be on high alert during Muharram to ensure the month passes peacefully.

Speaking to field officers during his visit on Saturday to Sargodha and Rawalpindi along with a sub-committee constituted by Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, Iqbal urged regional and district police officers to make security plans for the month.

The provincial police chief said that the officers on security duty must have the latest equipment for their jobs. He instructed traffic police in both regions to ensure the implementation of a traffic plan during Muharram.

In a separate statement, Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Ahmad Raza Tahir said no police official must leave his place of duty till all the participants in the nearby majalis or processions leave.

He said police jawans would get a pick and drop service to make sure they get to their places of duty on time and they would be provided a food ration and drinking water. He said that Lahore police would coordinate with ulema and public representatives to ensure comprehensive security for religious places and procession routes.

Tahir was presiding over a meeting at Police Lines Qila Gujjar Singh with more than a hundred Shia ulema and procession organisers.

The city police chief said all entrances and exits to majlis venues and imam bargahs and the routes of processions would be protected by policemen deployed on rooftops. He said that parking should only be allowed at places 200 metres away from majlis venues.

He said that more than 12,000 police jawans would provide security cover to 4,000 congregations and 640 processions, while 134 mobile squad vans, 85 motorbikes, 75 police cars and 11 Elite Force cars would also be deployed. Lahore police would also protect 297 imam bargahs and 787 mosques on the routes of processions.

Tahir said that the Muharram code of conduct would be enforced and 1,068 members of the District Peace Committee would be present at the routes of processions and at congregations. He said strict enforcement of the ban on loudspeakers would be ensured.

DIG (Operations) Ghulam Mehmood Dogar said that 28 court absconders, 23 proclaimed offenders, 13 suspects on the most wanted list, two ‘gangs’ and 22 suspected drug peddlers had been rounded up in raids conducted on Friday night. The police seized 150 bottles of liquor and 27 kilos of heroin from the suspects.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 20^th, 2011.