PESHAWAR, Dec 23: The government has banned the movement of 136 ulema from their hometowns to other provinces during Muharram and asked them to cooperate with the administration in maintaining law and order during the month.

An official source in the home department told Dawn here on Tuesday that the ulema belonged to different sects. He said 52 of them belonged to the Frontier province, who had been asked to stay in their districts for 90 days under the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) ordinance.

The ulema from Sindh and Punjab have been restricted from entering the NWFP for 60 days and those hailing from Balochistan have been banned for 90 days.

The ulema of the Frontier province, he said, belonged to Peshawar, Kohat, Charsadda, Swat, Dera Ismail Khan, Bannu, Haripur, Abbottabad, Hangu and Mansehra districts.

The most sensitive districts, the official said, included Hangu, Kohat, Dera Ismail Khan, Haripur, Mansehra, Peshawar, Nowshera and Abbottabad, where army personnel would be deployed to keep vigilance on the movement of problem makers.

Referring to sectarian clashes in Hangu in the past, he said the administration was in close contact with leaders of both the Sunni and Shia sects to get their cooperation in connection with the law and order situation during Muharram.

He said educational institutes, including religious seminaries, would remain closed for five days to be announced formally and the movement of Afghan nationals would strictly be banned in city bazaars during Muharram.

He said additional personnel of security forces would be deployed in sensitive districts as per requirement. The government, he said, had also agreed to provide four helicopters to officials concerned for aerial surveillance of the most sensitive areas of the province in order to take timely action if anyone tried to disrupt peace.

He said all the civic bodies, including the Water and Power Development Authority, had been directed to ensure proper service to people and no laxity would be tolerated on the occasion.