RAWALPINDI: Police will lay a virtual siege to the Rawalpindi city as a part of the security measures for the Pakistan Day parade, preventing all kinds of traffic from entering and leaving the city for about four days.

Sharpshooters will be deployed on the rooftops of high-rise buildings located on the roads leading to Islamabad. Surety bonds have been obtained from the owners of the buildings as they will be held responsible in case of any untoward incident near their vicinities.

“Extraordinary measures have been taken to ensure foolproof security for the March 23 parade,” said Shoaib Khuram Janbaz, the city traffic officer (CTO).

He said roads leading to the federal capital would be sealed on March 20 midnight to March 21 afternoon for the rehearsal of the parade. The bus stands located at Faizabad and Pirwadhai will be closed for four days.

Under the traffic plan issued by the city traffic police, Faizabad will be closed and all vehicles going towards Islamabad will be diverted to the Cricket Stadium Road.

Heavy vehicles, including buses, trucks and trailers, coming from Lahore will be stopped at Gujrat, Kharian, Jhelum and Rawat while the traffic coming from Khyber Pakhtunkhua will be stopped at the Attock Bridge and Tarnol.

Public transport vehicles coming from Murree will not be allowed to move towards the capital city from Lower Topa, Satra Mile toll plaza.

Led by the CTO, 340 wardens, 40 junior wardens, 14 inspectors and five deputy superintendents will be deployed in the city to maintain traffic.

The citizens have been asked to stay indoors and reduce their unnecessary movement during the rehearsal and parade days. The joint military parade of the armed forced is being held in Islamabad after a gap of seven years.

Published in Dawn March 20th, 2015

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