Remembering the martyrdom: Capital’s main mourning procession today

Over 5,000 security personnel to be deployed along procession route in G-6

ISLAMABAD:

The main procession of Muharram 9th in the capital will be taken out form Markazi Imambargah G-6/2 today.

The procession will start from the imambargah on Luqman Hakeem Road and, after passing through Lal Quarters, 7th Avenue, Iqbal Hall traffic signal, Saddar Road, Municipal Road, Shuhada Chowk and Polyclinic hospital, culminate back at the imambargah, informed Islamabad Traffic Police (ITP) spokesperson Ameer Khan.



All these roads will be closed for traffic and commuters will be diverted to alternative routes, he said further.

The spokesperson said a total 304 ITP officials — including an SP, an SSP, three DSPs, seven inspectors — will be deployed along the procession routes to regulate the traffic and facilitate mourners. Khan said the procession will end at 6pm.

Security arrangements

Over 5,000 personnel of police, Rangers, and Frontier Constabulary will be deployed along the procession itinerary, said an Islamabad Police spokesperson. He said women police will also be deployed at the gatherings.

He added that walk-through security gates would be installed at entrance of the procession and participants would be searched through metal detectors. He said that only one gate would be open to enter the procession.

Hospitals on alert

All public hospitals in Islamabad have been told to remain on alert to meet any emergency on occasion of the capital’s largest Muharram procession.

Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences spokesperson Wasim Khawaja said the hospital has finalised an ‘emergency disaster plan’. Under the plan, the hospital could cater to an additional 500 persons, said Khawaja, adding that 300 surgeons, doctors and paramedics would be a call away to deal with any emergency. “The hospital has arranged 100 beds and as many bottles of blood of each blood group. We have sufficient staff and medicines,” he said.

Civic arrangements

The Capital Development Authority (CDA) too has made arrangements to facilitate the procession.



CDA Chairman Maroof Afzal on Sunday held a meeting with heads of various formations of the civic agency to review preparations.

The authority would depute ambulances and fire vehicles at the gatherings and along the procession route.

CDA teams have also trimmed trees and removed shrubs and bushes on the route to avoid inconvenience and secure the procession. The sanitation wing has also cleaned streams in the vicinity of majalis and other Muharram gatherings.

The meeting was informed that necessary maintenance work has been completed and street lights on the procession route and around imambargahs have been repaired and made functional.

Similarly, the authority said it had covered all the manholes on the procession routes and in surrounding of the gatherings.

Moreover, CDA’s water tankers will provide potable water to mourners and the civic authority will run shifts to collect garbage and keep the gatherings clean.

The CDA has also notified that its weekly bazaars in I-9 and H-9 will remain closed on November 4, Tuesday.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 3^rd, 2014.