All the arrangements have been finalized for the 9th and 10th of Muharram while over 6000 cops would guard 64 mourning processions and 113 majlis of the district.
The district administration and law enforcers have finalized all necessary arrangements to facilitate the mourners.
Rawalpindi District Police, City Traffic Police (CTP), Rescue-1122 Rawalpindi, and other relevant departments have finalized all the arrangements for ‘Youm-e-Ashura,’ to be observed on Saturday.
Six main processions of Zuljanah, Alam, and Tazia would be taken out on Ashura from different areas of the city.
All the processions would culminate at 10:00 p.m. at Imambargah Qadimi. Clerics and religious scholars would highlight the teachings of Imam Hussain (RA) and various aspects of the tragedy.
According to City Police Officer (CPO) Syed Khalid Hamdani, the Police had finalized elaborate security arrangements for the peaceful passage of 9th and 10th of Muharram and to avoid any untoward incident.
Special security arrangements had been finalized for Muharram ul Haram in the district, he said.
“A three-layer security cover would be provided particularly to the main Muharram processions with special arrangements ensuring rooftop duty and deployment of Quick Response Force (QRF),” he added.
“The foolproof security arrangements had been finalized for the main 10th Muharram procession of the city which starts from Satellite Town and culminates at Imam Bargah Qadimi.”
Over 2500 security personnel would be deployed to guard the main procession while 3500 cops would provide security cover to other processions and majlis of the district. More than 1000 officers and personnel of traffic police would ensure traffic arrangements, he informed.
According to a police spokesman, no one would be allowed to carry weapons in Muharram procession except designated police officers.
Police would not allow anybody to organize a new Muharram procession and on SOPs violation strict action would be taken against the violators, he added.
A special 24/7 control room had also been set up, he said and informed that strict monitoring of Ashura processions would be conducted as Close Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras had been installed at routes of main Zuljinnah processions and places where majalis would be held.
He said special contingents of commandos and police officials would also be deployed at trouble points.
According to the security plan formulated in this regard, aerial surveillance of the ‘Ashura’ processions would also be conducted to ensure the security of the mourners.
Additional forces of Special Branch Police, Elite Force, Punjab Constabulary, and Women Police along with district police would be deployed to ensure security on the 10th of Muharram.
Special checking of the routes would be carried out before the start of the processions and the bomb disposal squad would clear the routes.
The mourners would be checked with metal detectors and walk-through gates would be installed at the entry points of the processions.
The route of the main procession of ‘Ashura’ would be sealed completely and streets on the route would be barricaded.
Vehicles and motorcycles would not be allowed to move with the mourning processions.
The spokesman informed that police had finalized security arrangements for 447 processions and 1925 majlis of Muharram ul Haram while special security arrangements were also finalized for 40 sensitive processions of the district.
