KARACHI:The main mourning procession of 9th Muharram which was taken out amid stern security arrangements from Nishter Park ended peacefully at Husainian Iranian Imambargah Kharadar here on Friday.
Earlier, a Majlis was held at the Nishtar Park amid foolproof security.
The participants of the procession offered Namaz-e-Zoharain at the Imambargah Ali Raza – M.A.Jinnah road here.
After performing Namaz-e-Zoharain, the participants of procession proceeded to the traditional route towards Mansfield Street, Preddy Street, Tibet Centre and onwards.
Strict security measures were made by police and rangers for the participants of the procession. Earlier, the whole route of main procession was cleared by the bomb disposal squad.
All the small lanes and connecting roads linked to the entire route of the main procession were blocked with containers and other obstacles to stop the unwanted entry.
Alternate routes were already issued by the Karachi Traffic police to facilitate the people to continue their journey towards their respective destinations.
No vehicle was allowed to come, go or park on the route of main mourning procession while the monitoring is also being performed with close circuit cameras.
Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah also visited the route of the main mourning procession to review the security arrangements made for the processions of 9 and 10 Muharram.
He was accompanied by Minister Labour Saeed Ghani, Mayor Karachi Murtaza Wahab, Chief Secretary Sohail Rajput, and IG Police Ghulam Nabi Memon.
Inspector General of Sindh Police Ghulam Nabi Memon briefed the chief minister that the 9th and 10th Muharram processions would pass through Nishtar Park- Numaish- M.A Jinnah Road- Mansfield Street – Preedy Street – Tibet Chowk M.A Jinnah Road- Boulton Market – Bombay Bazar- Kharadar – Nawab Mohabbat Road and termination at Hussainian Iranian Imambargah.
The Sindh police chief said that there would be 20 designated diversion points of the procession right from Teen Hati, Lasbela to Mansfield Street after Tahiri Masjid. Similarly, nine parking lots have been designated.
The CM Sindh was told that 4698 policemen have been deployed for the security of the processions. CCTV coverage of the procession has also been made and it would be monitored from the main Control Room of the IG Office.
The procession after passing through from its traditional route including Nishtar Park to Sir Shah Nawaz Bhutto Road, Mahfil Shah-e-Khorasan, M.A.Jinnah Road, Mansfield Street, Preddy Street, again M.A.Jinnah Road, Baba-e-Urdu Road, Nishtar Road, Altaf Hussain Road (Old Napier Road), M.A.Jinnah Road, Boulton Market, Bombay Bazar, Nawab Mohabbat Khanji Road and peacefully dispersed at Hussainiya Iraniyan Imambargah.