Islamabad - The federal capital witnessed elaborate security arrangements on Thursday as thousands of mourners, including children and women, paid homage to Hazrat Imam Hussain (RA) and his companions for their sacrifice in Karbala hundreds of years ago.
The main procession of 9th Muharram-ul-Harram was taken out in sector G-6. The mourners recited nohas and marsiya to commemorate the sacrifice. Three-layer security was in place for the participants of the procession, with all linking roads along the route of procession sealed off by placing containers and barbed wires. Nobody was allowed to join the procession without security check. As part of security measures, cell phone service was partially suspended along the route of main procession while pillion riding was completely banned in the city. Mobile phone service is likely to be suspended in the capital on Muharram 10 as well.
According to the local police, around 2586 personnel of the law-enforcement agencies including 5 SPs, 12 DSPs and 40 police Inspectors besides 58 personnel of Rangers and 75 of the FC were deployed for the procession’s security. More than 4,000 policemen in uniform and plain clothes and personnel of Quick Respond Force have been deployed to protect the main procession backed by round-the-clock surveillance with 450 CCTV cameras.
Traditionally the main Ashura procession in Islamabad is taken out on 9th Muharram and on 10th the mourners participate in the main procession in Rawalpindi. The procession of the mourners began from Markazi Imambargah in sector G-6/2 and culminated at the same point in the evening after passing through various streets and roads of the city. To facilitate the azadaraan, Fazl-e-Haq Road, Saddar Road, Municipal Road and Luqman Hakeem Road were closed for traffic for the whole day. Similarly, Post Office Road, Sadar Road, road from Iqbal Hall to Melody, Municipal Road from Lal Masjid to GPO was also closed due to the security reasons. One side of the 7th Avenue bordering Sector G-6 was also remained closed from Kalsoom Plaza to Aabpara. The residents of sector G-6/1 suffered a day-long blockade during which they were restricted to their homes.
According to the traffic plan, around 566 personnel of Islamabad Traffic Police performed their duty to keep flow of the city traffic. The police said fool proof security was put in place for the processions with huge deployment of police and paramilitary troops along the procession route.
According to the SSP (Operations) Najeebur Rehman Bugvi the procession route was secured with deployment, barbed wire and concrete blocks. Rangers and FC assist the police as quick response force while Army troops were on call, he added.
Meanwhile, minister of state for interior, Shehryar Afridi visited the Safe City project to review security arrangements on the day of 9th Muharram. He was briefed about the security measures taken by the authorities for the day. The MoS directed for further revamping the project.