By Staff reporter
Islamabad: Dr. Akbar Nasir Khan, the chief of the Islamabad Capital Police, reviewed security plans for “Muharram ul Harram” on Tuesday and decided to increase patrols and alertness at various locations to ensure complete security. It was decided during the meeting that the Operations Division, under the direction of DIG Operations, will offer all operational and technical assistance, while the Logistics Division, under the direction of DIG Headquarters, will provide all logistical support.
The Inspector General of Police (IGP) Islamabad, Dr. Akbar Nasir Khan, presided over a security meeting to assess security measures for “Muharram ul Harram” at the Central Police headquarters. DIG (Operations) Sohail Zafar Chatha, he said, would keep an eye on all security-related arrangements. All police officers were given the order to stay in close contact with the peace committees, procession leaders, and organisers of Majalis during Muharram-ul-Haram. According to him, organisers’ collaboration with law enforcement should be guaranteed. To give special cards to police officers and volunteers doing responsibilities, the Islamabad Police Chief was asked.
He gave instructions to keep procession vigilance at a high level using drone cameras, smart cars, security cameras, and safe city cameras. He stated that DG will be in charge of all of these arrangements (Safe City). Additionally, Safe City will create a control room. After consulting with the relevant authorities, the IGP also gave the order to set up sufficient lighting and to remove bushes from various areas around places of worship. When organising religious gatherings, Imam bargahs would need security from police commandos and cars. He advised making sure that processions followed the predetermined routes and timeframes were rigorously adhered to. He also ordered the employment of commando vehicles for efficient patrolling.
He gave the order to maintain close communication between all divisions of the Islamabad police and employees. The IGP stated that walk-through gates must be built and manned by a sizable number of cops at all points of entry and exit for Majalis and processions.
To ensure that all Muharram procession routes, Imambargahs, and rooftops are covered by the police, patrolling policemen must visit them all. According to the IGP, female police officers should be assigned to female gatherings, and police officers and Jawans should be responsible for security tasks outside of imam bargahs. Additionally, he gave the SSP (Traffic) instructions to create a traffic strategy and monitor the seamless operation of other routes during the processions. Parking lots should be kept far away from Imam bargahs, he advised.
The IGP insisted that strict oversight should be kept in place to make sure that security measures put in place by the police and SOPs issued by the government are being implemented. He explained that the bomb disposal unit would use robots and other cutting-edge equipment to verify the routes, and that after the checks were finished, admittance of the participants into the parade would be guaranteed. In order to ensure total cooperation and the success of this plan, instructions were sent to all branches of the Islamabad police. The IGP stressed that there will be no tolerance for faulty security practises.
