RAWALPINDI:Trade bodies of the city have urged the government to take extraordinary steps for maintaining law and order during Muharram.
Remembering the “disaster suffered by local traders of Madina Market and Al-Umer Plaza in 2013” on Ashura day in Raja Bazar, President Markazi Anjuman Tajran Sharjeel Mir on Monday urged the government to take stringent security measures for ensuring peace and security in the city.
Mir said though the district administration was doing its best for creating an atmosphere of religious harmony and brotherhood by taking all stakeholders on board, he urged for more extraordinary measures by intensifying snap checking and patrolling, effective monitoring of the city’s entry and exit points, deployment of additional police force and Rangers, installation and repair of CCTV cameras and other security steps so that all processions and other religious activities conclude peacefully.
“We cannot afford any further loss of life and property as it takes years to recover and restore businesses which were put on fire by the angry mob on November 15, 2013,” he said.
He called for taking the business community of the concerned bazaars into confidence regarding the security plan devised for various routes of Muharram processions so that shopkeepers and traders could adhere to the security plan and schedule their business activities accordingly.
When contacted, the City Police Officer Syed Khalid Hmadani assured that foolproof security arrangements were being made to provide security to mourners as well as traders to feel a sense of security.
He said that meetings with Ulema of all sects and the business community were being held regularly to maintain the law and order situation in the city.
Hamadani said that the Muharram Code of Conduct and Standard Operating Procedures were also being ensured strictly and no one would be allowed to disrupt the peaceful environment of the district.