RAWALPINDI: Though it believes the bloody Muharram of 2013 is a thing of the past, the security-conscious local administration has new worries on this year’s Muharram in the city.

It blocked roads and areas around Raja Bazaar on Wednesday with shipping containers for the fear that terrorists might not reignite the sectarian mayhem that had devastated the densely populated and commercially important part of Rawalpindi two years ago.

But, rather than feeling secure, many residents of the locality took the administration’s protective measure as menacing. Traders of the sealed off area have been advised to close their business on Thursday evening for the Muharram 9 and 10 religious activities and processions that follow on Friday and Saturday.

Containers placed at Ganjamandi, Banni Chowk, Asghar Mall Road, Pirwadhai, College Road, Gawalmandi, City Saddar Road and Kashmiri Bazaar blocked access to the commercially most thriving district of the inner city.

District Coordination Officer Sajid Zafar Dall told Dawn that the local administration faced “threat of terrorism this time, not of sectarian violence”.

“We had taken steps prior to start of Muharram to avoid a 2013 like situation emerging,” he said. “But law enforcement agencies feared terrorist activity and because of that Army, Rangers, police and other forces would be available in the city to prevent that.”

Some 450 close circuit TV cameras installed along the route of the mourning procession have been operational since Tuesday night and would monitor the Muharram 7 and 10 processions from the main control room set up at the Rawalpindi Development Authority offices.

DCO Dall said that the shipping container barriers were meant to prevent any untoward situation from developing on the procession days. They sealed the area on Wednesday evening which will be ‘partially opened’ on Thursday and again closed on Friday till Saturday night, he said.

Former PML-N MNA Malik Shakil Awan said Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif assigned him and others to accompany the mourning processions.

Majlis Wahdatul Muslimeen spokesman Husnain Zaidi did not see any sectarian issue this time around and said that “the situation was better than in 2013”. However, he stressed that the government “needs to protect majalis and mourning processions and facilitate people to perform their religious duties”.

A senior official of the City District Government Rawalpindi told Dawn that the local administration conducted three rounds of talks with the clerics of all schools of thought on maintaining peace during Muharram.

“The counter-terrorism National Action Plan helped the provincial government and the local administration secure assurances from different schools of thought that they did not plan any activity in the coming days which could lead to violence,” he said.

 A committee comprising local PML-N politicians, including Sardar Naseem, Malik Shakil Awan, Hanif Abbasi, Malik Abrar and Raja Hanif visited the headquarters of the sectarian groups to get that assurance.

The committee members will accompany the main Muharram procession throughout its journey to deal with any brawl, clash or ugly situation, the official said.

Having learnt lessons from the past, he said, the District Coordination Officer and the City Police Officer also visited top clerics of Shia and Sunni groups to seek their cooperation in maintaining peace on the occasion.

Published in Dawn, October 22nd, 2015

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