RAWALPINDI, Jan 13: The City District Government Rawalpindi (CDGR) has announced Monday, January 14, 2013, a public holiday for private and public schools in the city to avoid any untoward incident, during the Tehrik-i-Minhajul Quran (TMQ) long march.

The directives do not apply for colleges, universities and government offices.

“I issued the orders for the public holiday for schools but all offices of government departments will remain open on Monday,” District Coordination Officer (DCO) Saqib Zafar told Dawn.

The DCO said that the CDGR did not want to create problems for school going children in adjoining areas of Islamabad, therefore it ordered the closure.

However, he said that schools in other parts of the district will remain open.

He said that private schools had already announced a public holiday, however, colleges and universities will remain open.