RAWALPINDI:
Preparations for the six main Ashura mourning processions, including Zuljanah, Tazia, and Alam processions in Rawalpindi, have been completed.
The Ashura security plan has been approved and immediately implemented.
Under the plan, Rangers have been called in, while army units will remain on red alert. Aerial surveillance of the processions will be conducted via helicopter.
According to officials, 8,500 police personnel, 700 civil defence volunteers, and 100 female volunteers have been deployed for security. Mobile phone and internet services will remain suspended from 6:30 am to midnight on the day of Ashura.
Drone monitoring of the processions will also be carried out.
A control room has been established, and bomb disposal squads will accompany the routes. Three ambulances will be stationed at the front and back of the processions, along with mobile medical clinics. After Maghrib prayers, IESCO’s light vehicles will provide illumination along the routes.
A ban has been imposed on pillion riding, while the dumping of building material, garbage, or debris on the routes of the five main processions is strictly prohibited.
Mosques along the routes will remain closed except during prayer times and will otherwise be sealed. Loudspeakers will only be allowed for the call to prayer (Azan).
Shops and markets along the routes will remain closed and sealed.
Residents of houses, plazas, and shops along the routes have been prohibited from standing or peeking out of rooftops or windows.
Police will be stationed on rooftops in sensitive areas. Mounted police units will escort the front and rear of the processions. Monitoring will be carried out through 350 closed-circuit cameras.
Entry to the processions will be strictly through walk-through gates. The carrying of matches, cigarette lighters, weapons, or sticks has been banned.
Violators will be charged under the Anti-Terrorism Act. The storage of bricks or stones on rooftops along the procession routes has also been prohibited. Parking of vehicles and motorcycles along the routes is banned, and violators will have their vehicles impounded.
On Ashura morning at Fajr prayer time, all routes will be sealed using containers, trucks, and barbed wire.
A total of 137 streets and narrow lanes along the procession routes will also be sealed with tractor trolleys, containers, handcarts, and barbed wire, and police personnel will be deployed.
