The city police remained on high alert on Tuesday as several mourning processions were taken out and majalis were held in the city on 9th Muharram to pay homage to the sacrifices of Hazrat Imam Hussain and his companions in Karbala. Sources in the police said they had declared 39 areas as sensitive for majalis. On the directions of police and city district administration, all the emergency services will also remain on high alert to facilitate the participants of procession rallies.
The sources said that mobile services will remain suspended on Wednesday as well, especially around the main processions. The main roads and traffic leading to the routes of Ashura processions have been blocked with barricades and barbed wire. "Snipers will also perform their duties on roofs of high-rise buildings along the routes. Helicopter drones will also be used to monitor the routes and suspicious activities," the sources added.
They said the police will be strictly implementing the ban on pillion riding which was earlier enforced in a bid to avoid any untoward incident. According to the spokesman of the DIG Operations, "Around 6500 policemen have been deployed for security and we have installed 300 CCTV cameras besides an operation room to monitor the city." The spokesman said that use of loudspeakers at mosques around the city has been banned. "Duty officers at police stations have been instructed to lock the loudspeakers and keep the keys with them until 11th Muharram," he said.