PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has ordered closure of all arms shops and factories for a week and banned pillion riding and movement of Afghans in the provincial metropolis as part of measures to ensure protection of people on the occasion of Chehlum of Hazrat Imam Hussain.

These steps were finalised in two different meetings, one held with the Home and Tribal Affairs Department secretary Syed Akhtar Ali Shah and the other with Peshawar division commissioner Munir Azam in the chair here on Friday. The majalis will be started from Dec 8.

The Peshawar division meeting was attended by capital city police officer Ijaz Mohmand, deputy commissioner Zaheerul Islam, additional deputy commissioner Nowshera Sikandar Zeeshan, Municipal Corporation administrator Zafar Ali Shah, DPO Nowshera, and officials of Wapda, SNGPL, PDA, etc.

Keeping in view the existing law and order situation it was decided that about 3,000 police personnel would be deployed in parts of Peshawar in addition to the support of other law enforcement agencies.

Closed-circuit television cameras would be installed at all the sensitive prominent places to monitor movement of suspected people and take timely action in case of possibility of any untoward incident. The relevant employees of various departments have been directed to ensure their presence in the supreme command post on Dec 8 to keep close liaison with relevant officials.

According to the security plan, all the government departments have been directed to name focal persons for the purpose till Saturday (today). It was decided to remove all the wall chalking and in case of fresh wall chalking or display of any provocative posters and banners, FIRs would be registered against those involved in the practice.

Pillion riding will be banned on Dec 12 and13, and the arms shops and factories will remain closed on Dec 12,13 and 14. Besides, the entry of Afghan nationals will remain restricted from Dec 8 to13. The administrator of Lady Reading Hospital has been asked to ensure presence of the doctors and paramedical staff on the Chehlum day.

The home secretary has directed deployment of commandos, aerial surveillance of sensitive areas across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He has also asked for dividing the province into 26 zones to ensure implementation of the security plan. He said that Frontier Corps would back the police in Peshawar, Nowshera, Dera Ismail Khan, Tank, Hangu, Bannu and Kohat to take timely action against the law breakers. The law enforcers would also check movement of the people from different tribal regions towards the sensitive areas. The ban on provocative literature, hatred speeches would remain intact.

In a circular issued to the divisional commissioners, deputy commissioners and other officials, the home secretary asked them to ensure comprehensive security plan and avail support of the religious people, traders, media and peace bodies to maintain peace in their respective areas.

The officials were directed to ensure targeted operations to discourage the anti-social and anti-state elements. All the activities across the province would be monitored from the provincial crisis management centre of the home department.

Published in Dawn December 6th , 2014