To ensure foolproof security during Muharram, control rooms will be set up at the Commissioner’s House and offices of all deputy commissioners, Commissioner Roshan Ali Shaikh said on Monday. He said this while presiding over a meeting to draft a comprehensive security plan for Muharram in collaboration with ulemas and officers at the Commissioner House’s on Monday. Besides the deputy commissioners and assistant deputy commissioners of all five districts Additional Inspector General (AIG) of Police Ghulam Shabbir Shaikh, deputy inspector generals (DIGs) of South and East zones and the Traffic DIG, representatives of Pakistan Rangers, Karachi Municipal Corporation (KMC), Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB), Karachi Electric Supply Company, Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited and 5 Corps, Karachi also attended the meeting.
“The main Ashura procession will be monitored directly from the Command and Control Room in Civic Centre,” the commissioner said at the meeting, assuring the religious leaders that the government would provide all possible facilities for mourners during the sacred month. “The ulema should also promote synchronisation and harmony among the people.” Shaikh directed the KMC and KWSB officials to ensure immediate repairing and maintenance of streetlights and water and sewerage system especially on the route along the Ashura procession.
The Karachi commissioner asked the KMC to remove all encroachments along the route of the main Ashura procession at MA Jinnah Road and Saddar, and arrange fumigation drives in the area. He also instructed the police to remain in contact with the religious scholars during the holy month of Muharram. At the meeting, the AIG said that for monitoring the processions on the 9th and 10th of Muharram, the police have acquired four special mobile vans that have been equipped with video cameras and linked to the central control room.