Eidul Azha today: FC to police Quetta to ensure peace

Paramilitary force given police powers for one month.

QUETTA:

Eidul Azha will be celebrated across the country, Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan, on Wednesday, amid fears that terrorists might attack Eid congregations.

Authorities have put in place strict security arrangements, especially at public places, mosques and Eidgahs and important buildings across the country. Policemen in civvies as well as in uniform will be deployed to secure Eid congregations.



The Balochistan administration has delegated police powers to the paramilitary Frontier Corps (FC) for one month to maintain peace in the provincial capital. A huge deployment of law enforcers has been ordered to thwart possible terrorist attacks.

According to a Home and Tribal Affairs Department notification, the FC has been delegated police powers till November 16. The force had been given these powers last year following a steep rise in militant violence.



The Quetta commissioner has had a series of meetings before finalising the Eid security plan. Police and paramilitary troops have set up pickets at different intersections of the city. Walkthrough gates have been installed at the main gates of mosques and Imambargahs in the city. Pakistan Army troops have been put on standby.

“More than 2,000 personnel of police, Balochistan Constabulary and other law enforcement agencies will be deployed near imambargahs, mosques and other vulnerable places,” DIG (Operations) Muhammad Jaffar told The Express Tribune.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 16^th, 2013.