Unprecedented security measures have been adopted at the entry and exit points of the city and new pickets set up. Concrete blocks and steel barriers have been placed at the Ravi Bridge to ensure a no-exception checking of vehicles entering the city. Concrete blocks have also been placed at more than 200 metres long stretch of road at the Ravi Bridge to regulate the traffic, a security official deputed at the Ravi Bridge told The Express Tribune.
Four posts manned by sharpshooters have also been set up at the bridge, he added.
The city police have made a comprehensive plan to ensure the security of the Shia participants of a Tazia procession. The Tazia, a replica of the mausoleum of Hazrat Ali (RA), will be taken out from Nisar Haveli at 9am. It will proceed towards the Mochi Gate and after taking a round of the area, reach Chowk Nawab Sahib, Chohatta Mufti Baqir and Masjid Wazir Khan. The mourners will offer Zuhr prayers in front of the mosque and proceed towards Rang Mahal and reach the Shah Alam market towards Dabbi Bazaar.
Then it will proceed towards Bazaar Hakeeman and finally reach Karbala Gamay Shah through Lohari and Bhati areas. The Tazia procession will culminate at Karbala Gamay Shah, before sunset.
The city police have plan for extra armed personnel on the route. The CCPO said that he had ordered special surveillance of hotels and bus and wagon stands to ward off subversion and to ensure law and order on the occasion of procession of Yaum-i-Shahadat Hazrat Ali (RA). In a statement issued on Tuesday, CCPO Muhammad Aslam Tareen said that directions have been issued to make effective arrangements to ensure a smooth flow of traffic on this occasion.
He said that security arrangements for the procession had been reviewed and their monitoring discussed in detail in a meeting of senior police officers. He said that all entry and exit points of the mosques, majalis and Imam bargahs throughout the city will be covered. There will be rooftop deployment on some routes.
Parking areas have been directed to be set up safe distance away, preferably 200 metres, from the processions. A mobile squad consisting of motor bikes and cars of the Elite Force will also be deployed on this occasion. He said that crisis management centres have been established in the city, and will function round the clock. A special control room has also been set up at the office of the CCPO for coordination between various agencies.
The CCPO directed the divisional SPs concerned to personally check the deployment and patrolling of the mobile squads in their areas. The CCPO will make surprise inspections in order to review the security arrangements.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 1st, 2010.
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