PESHAWAR: The city police on Monday said they had asked the provincial government for suspension of cellular phone service on the 9th and 10th of Muharram in view of the security threats.

Briefing reporters about the security arrangements for Muharram at the supreme command post here, city police chief Mohammad Tahir Khan said the police and other law enforcement agencies would seal the interior city on 9th and 10th of Muharram.

He said police had also asked the provincial government to suspend the cellular phone services in the provincial capital on the two days in view of security threats.

Mr Tahir said the city police had prepared a security plan for the protection of the mourning processions and gatherings.

He said they had declared all Muharram processions as sensitive, while 9th and 10th processions had been declared as most sensitive thus, necessitating the sealing of interior city on both the days.

The police officer said they had also set up five command posts and a supreme command post for monitoring the Muharram processions across the city.

He said the police personnel were monitoring all processions through about 100 close-circuit television cameras at the supreme command post. He said traffic police control room would also monitor the situation through their over 100 CCTVs and Gulbahar police station through 25 cameras.

Published in Dawn, September 26th, 2017