- Over 6,500 cops to ensure order; six ambulances, two fire vehicles, 14 motorbike ambulances and over 70 rescuers to perform duties
- Govt issues 25-point code of conduct for rally’s participants
LAHORE: All hospitals of the provincial capital will remain on high alert as the opposition parties are all set to hold anti-government protest rally on The Mall today (Wednesday) to seek what they termed “justice for the victims of Model Town incident” in which 14 people were killed while over 100 injured on June 2017.
According to the circular issued by the Specialized Healthcare and Medical Education Department, all the hospitals in Lahore shall remain on the high level of emergency preparedness and foolproof arrangements should be put in place for provision of medical cover on January 17 (today) in the wake of a protest rally being held at The Mall.
As per the medical cover plan, all senior and junior medical and administrative staff, including the nurses and paramedics, have been instructed by the department to remain on alert till the conclusion of the rally on Wednesday, as per announcement. The hospitals have also been directed to ensure the availability of the blood bags of all the blood groups for any emergency situation.
On the other hand, the Higher Education Department has also issued a notification and said that the Government College University (GCU), the National College of Arts and the Old Campus of the Punjab University shall remain closed on Wednesday (today) due to the protest rally at The Mall. All the public and private schools within the vicinity will also be closed to avoid any untoward incident because of the rally.
Such safety measures are being taken keeping in view the looming security threat as the district administration has already made it clear and said that the organisers of the rally would be responsible for any untoward incident as there is a security threat to hold a rally at The Mall.
NO PERMISSION: It is worth mentioning here that a suicide bomber blew himself at the same place in February last year killing many innocent people including two high-profile police officials when some groups of the protesters were holding a sit-in at the same place.
The district administration did not give any permission to the protesting parties for today’s rally while citing the reason that the Lahore High Court has placed a ban to hold any protest at The Mall and the government has also imposed Section 144. However, the district administration has issued a 25-point code of conduct on Tuesday for the participants of the rally.
The administration urged the participants to strictly follow this code-of-conduct otherwise a stern action can be taken against the violators. Although, the administration refused the political parties to hold protest rally but there would be over 6,500 police officials deputed there to ensure the law and order.
Moreover, six ambulances, two fire vehicles, 14 motorbike ambulances and over 70 rescuers would remain there at the protest rally for any emergency situation.
