The three-day annual congregation of Tableeghi Jamaat started in Raiwind, here on Thursday. The congregation started after Zohar prayers and is scheduled to conclude with final Dua (prayers) on Monday morning. Hundreds of faithful across and out of the country, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan and adjoining areas are attending the congregation.
Chief of the Tablighi Jamaat Pakistan, Haji Abdul Wahab, Maulana Jamshed, Maulana Jamil and other religious scholars from across the country would be addressing the gathering. They said the basic aim of the meeting was to convince Muslims to bring change in their lives according to the commands of Almighty Allah and the teachings of Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).
Punjab government has made pragmatic security arrangement on the eve of Tabligi Ijtama around 7,000 security personnel were securing the Rawind Tablighi Ijtema, which is scheduled to continue till November 20, while a thousand traffic wardens were deployed to ensure smooth traffic flow. The metropolis police installed walkthrough gates, searchlights, CCTV cameras and police posts had been set up around the Raiwind Markaz. Traffic police established 11 parking areas to be administered by the town municipal administration though a token system. Twenty checkpoints for vehicles had been established on the outskirts of the Ijtema venue. Traffic police will block Rawind Road for five hours from 10am, on November 20 and November 27, but no roads remained blocked for general traffic otherwise.
Superintendent of Police (SP) Shoaib Khurram Janbaz told that "foolproof" security would be maintained on the eve of both sessions, which run from November 17 to 20 and November 24 to 27. He said that around 1,700 police officers are deployed around the Ijtema while 12 Elite Force cars and 26 pairs of bikers are patrolling the venue. Around 450 personnel of the Counter Terrorism Unit and other agencies would remain inside in the Ijtema along with police personnel in civvies.
He said that 5,000 'razakars', or volunteers, also maintaining security inside the ijtema. He said that scaffolding had been put in place around walkthrough gates to ensure that people queued up in orderly fashion. He said that the police picked up around 220 people in a security sweep on Sunday night and released them after collecting their details. He said that around 350 people had been picked up and their particulars recorded in Sadar division alone.
He said that owners of houses, shops and guesthouses in the area had signed undertakings pledging not to host any guests during the ijtema. Sadar Circle Traffic Deputy Superintendent of Police Malik Akram said that on the two days Raiwind Road is blocked, motorists should use Shaukat Khanum Road to Wapda Town, onwards to Valencia Town and to Kacha Phattak, while traffic from the Canal should go towards Chungh using the flyover.
He said that some 1,000 wardens, 500 per shift, are working on the days of the Ijtema, while 1,000 wardens would do double shifts on November 20 and 27. He said that the Saddar Traffic SP and Sheikhupura SP would command 14 DSPs. He said that since the parking plots were in low-lying areas, ramps had been built where vehicles could enter and exit from. He said that the parking areas were less than 150 meters from the venue. The Tablighi Jamaat, a non-political but trans-national movement capable of commanding crowds second only to the annual Hajj, was founded nearly 80 years back by Maulana Mohammad Ilyas in Nizamuddin near Delhi, India.
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