RAWALPINDI: The local administration is making special security arrangements for former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s rally, which will pass through Rawalpindi on its way to Lahore, via the Grand Trunk (GT) Road on Wednesday.

CCTV cameras have been installed along the route, while camerapersons have been hired to film the procession in areas without CCTV coverage, for security purposes.

The rally is expected to enter Rawalpindi from Faizabad and head down Murree Road, from where it will join the GT Road via Rashid Minhas Road, commonly known as the civil lines and district courts square.

A senior local official told Dawn that CCTV cameras had been installed from Faizabad to Marrir Chowk and further onto Rashid Minhas Road.

Camerapersons with hand-held devices to be deployed in areas without CCTV coverage

He said cameras were already active on Jhelum Road up to Soan Camp, where the Lahore High Court’s Rawalpindi Bench is located. He said that officers carrying hand-held cameras will cover areas where CCTV cameras are not installed, or are inoperative.

To monitor all these feeds, two control rooms have been established; one at the offices of the Rawalpindi Municipal Corporation and another at the Deputy Commissioner’s Office, a senior official said.

The footage, he said, would also help the Punjab government keep a check on the performance of local PML-N leaders.

The ruling party’s leadership in Rawalpindi, meanwhile, also spent Monday finalising their arrangements to ensure that a maximum number of people were on-hand to give the former premier a historic welcome in the garrison city.

Rawalpindi Mayor Sardar Naseem, who is also the PML-N metropolitan president, reviewed arrangements in a meeting held at his office, attended by all union council (UC) chairpersons, vice-chairpersons and former and incumbent MNAs and MPAs of the ruling party.

A senior leader told Dawn that it was decided that PML-N workers will accompany the rally in cars, not buses, which have been hired for this purpose. He said all florists in the city had been asked to supply rose petals.

Talking to Dawn, Mayor Sardar Naseem said all party workers would give Nawaz Sharif a historic welcome, since they did not accept the decision to disqualify him.

He said the PML-N chief would not make a speech in Rawalpindi, and would likely talk to workers and supporters in Rawat, adding that former interior minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan had finalised arrangements there.

He said that security was the responsibility of the local police and administration, adding that the PML-N was cooperating with them in this regard.

The mayor said religious parties and other opposition parties had expressed solidarity with the PML-N, assuring them of their support and presence when Nawaz Sharif comes to Rawalpindi.

“All major movements in the country started from Rawalpindi and Nawaz Sharif has selected the garrison city to start his movement to restore the dignity of parliament and improving the political culture in the country,” he added.

Published in Dawn, August 8th, 2017