The district administration Multan on Monday finalised security measures for Ashura, focusing on increased coordination between the concerned departments to maintain law and order in the city. Punjab Minister for Labour & Auqaf, Haji Ehsan-uddin Qureshi chaired a meeting at the commissioner's office, which was also attended by RPO, CPO, DPOs and district administration officials.
DCO Multan Zahid Akhtar Zaman said that army was called out for the assistance of civil administration and cops were patrolling in Multan, Shujabad, and Jalalpur pirwala to avert any untoward incident. The minister directed that surety bonds should be obtained from the management of mourning sessions and majalis to abide by the code of conduct issued by the Punjab Home Department. He said that speakers and zakreens should also be told not to deliver inflammatory speeches based on sectarian principles and wall chalking with sectarian language must immediately be removed from all districts of Multan Division.
He said that special contingents of commandoes and police officials were deployed at various sensitive points. District peace committees would also be involved in consultations for taking measures to maintain law and order, the minister said. CPO Aamer Zulfikar said that walkthrough gates were installed at Markazi mourning processions and at sensitive majalis sites.
He said that police officials and private guards at Imambargahs and mourning processions were using metal detectors and that every participant was being searched out before entry. RPO informed the meeting that police in all districts had been put on high alert. He said that local police officers would also be vigilant and employ comprehensive plans to tackle miscreants.