Muharram security: Female scouts on high alert for possible burqa bombers

Young women at Numaish ready to sacrifice their lives to protect mourners.

KARACHI:

Mehmooda Irshad closely peers into every face and slides her hands down the bodies of the women entering the majlis at Nishtar Park as girl scouts brace themselves for an attack by a woman suicide bomber or a male terrorist hiding under a burqa.

“We’ve been told that suicide bombers could attack. They would be wearing layers of clothes, or would pretend to be pregnant,” said the 25-year-old, who has been put in charge of the female volunteers. Roars of ‘Ya Hussain’ reverberate in the background as she speaks. “We were told that an attacker’s facial expressions would be anxious and restless which is why we tell every visitor to take off her niqaab,” she explains.

Female scouts were enlisted after a suicide attack on an imambaragh in Gulshan-e-Iqbal in 2005.

At the city’s biggest congregation of Ahle Tasheeh mourners which is held at Nishtar Park during Muharram, scouts believe that there is a high risk this year. Female scouts have been given multiple briefings and are deployed at entry points, says Sardar Hussain, who heads the Scouts Rabita Council.

Though a majlis is held for only two hours every day from Muharram 1 to 10, the security is strict. No black shopping bags and no instruments for the traditional self-flagellation are allowed inside. All you can bring are transparent water bottles.

Purses are checked thrice, by the young boys at the entrance, by the indifferent woman police officers and by the vigilant girl scouts themselves. Everyone is made to walk through a scanner and everyone undergoes a thorough frisk. It is only then that a mourner is allowed to sit on the red carpets to listen to the ulema.

Up to 30 girl scouts have been deployed this year, all of them are students and unmarried. The youngest of them is 13-year-old Iqbal Zahra, who stood at the entrance checking bags.

“My two elder sisters have been doing it for a long time and I am proud to be here,” she said shyly. While they are dressed in black abayas, the unofficial uniform for these scouts, the different coloured epaulettes on their scarves distinguish one scouts group from another.

And while there is unity among the scouts they all are turned off by the woman police officers. “Look at her,” said Irshad, pointing towards one woman officer, who quickly sifted through a purse when she realised she was being watched. “She does not even check them properly.” Two women police officers sat on a nearby bench, away from the entrance, one trying hard not to fall asleep.

These scouts believe that if anything happens, the police officers won’t be the ones to step forward. It will only be up to them to save people. “We are ready to sacrifice our lives. If a suicide bomber attacks, we will jump at them and stop them from going into the crowd,” said Buturab scout Tahira Batool, a BA student.

Violence has already broken out. On November 27, two boy scouts were shot dead at Numaish. No one is willing to take any chances. “We were here when it took place,” says Irshad. “We got a bit worried but I told the girls to take their positions and stay alert.”

As the strong-minded Batool got back to her frisking, she concluded, “Four years ago, we seized a revolver from a woman and did not let her go to the congregation. This time, if God forbid anything bad happens, we know we can handle it.”

Published in The Express Tribune, December 4^th, 2011.