Homage to Karbala martyrs: Muharram procession passes peacefully in capital

Islamabad Police make elaborate arrangements to secure the gathering.

ISLAMABAD:

The Muharram ninth procession in the federal capital passed peacefully amid heightened security on Monday.  

The procession started from the Markazi Imambargah in Sector G-6 around noon and culminated at the same point after passing through the designated route. Mourners, including women and children, paid homage to Imam Hussain (AS) and his companions for their sacrifices in Karbala, Iraq. They also recited nohas and poems to commemorate the sacrifice.

While talking to the media at the procession site, Shia Ulema Council Secretary General Allama Arif Hussain Wahidi said they have always spread messages of unity and harmony citing the example of the Milli Yakjehti Council --- an alliance of religious groups belonging to different schools of thought --- in an effort to shun sectarianism.

Wahidi claimed that the Islamabad Police had arrested some people for organising majalis inside their homes without prior permission from the authorities. “We will go to court if we have to, because organising majalis inside home is one’s fundamental right.”

SSP Operations Asmatullah Junejo, however, said that the action was only taken against those who used loudspeakers without permission or had erected tents around their houses.

Security measures

Around 10,000 law enforcers including Rangers and Frontier Constabulary personnel were deployed in and around the procession route, said SSP Junejo.

“Around 900 officials in plainclothes were on duty as well,” he added.

Meanwhile, the SSP revealed that 42 people were detained after raids in different areas last night and weapons were seized from some of them.

Junejo said that the Islamabad Police was capable of dealing with every kind of situation and arrangements were made to effectively deal with the threats, adding that the last line of defence was the army, which was “a phone call away”.

He added that helicopter support, mobile jammers, and APCs remained present in order to assist law enforcers throughout the procession.

There were only two entry points, and the parking area was a healthy distance from the procession route. Some people had to walk a long way to join the procession, but “this had to be done, keeping the security threats in mind,’ the SSP said.

Three major threats were suicide bombers, improvised explosives devices (IED) and gun attacks from rooftops of buildings, but level of security arrangements gave law enforcers the upper hand, Junejo said.

On the other hand, the SSP revealed that around 3,000 policemen were still deployed at the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) sit-in site in the Red Zone as “any lapse at the sit-in site would be crippling. The Red Zone has to be secure as any intrusion would ruin all the efforts of last 70-80 days.”

All roads leading to the site of the procession were blocked. The Islamabad Traffic Police had made special arrangements to divert traffic to alternative routes.

Law enforcement officials were guarding the procession routes, and also standing on the roofs of different buildings, while ambulances and fire fighters were also deployed along the route.

Lax security checks for women

Security checks for women participating in the procession were not as strict as they were on the men’s side.

Women volunteering for security and administration at the procession said the police had not done enough to ensure security at the women enclosure.

Quratulain Rizvi, in-charge of women wing and general secretary of core committee of the Markazi Asna’ashri Trust Islamabad, said there were not sufficient women police officials deployed for the procession. She said the Imambargah administration had arranged their own security for women.

Rizvi, who has been overlooking Muharram security arrangements for women for the last 13 years, said they held several meetings with the authorities before Muharram, but there were not enough people deployed at the venue.

SSP Junejo said 110 female police officials were deployed at the procession. At the same time, Rizvi said 80 women were volunteering for security and administrative work.

There had been no reports of violence till the filing of this report.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 4^th, 2014.