KARACHI: Police have prepared a strategy to implement the lockdown across the province to prevent the spread of coronavirus, according to officials.

Inspector General of Police Mushtaq Ahmed Mahar chaired a meeting at his office on Sunday and directed the police to implement decisions taken by the provincial government.

About law and order challenges, the IGP directed that police patrolling and random checking be enhanced.

DIG-South Sharjeel Kharal told Dawn that they would start implementing the lockdown strategy from midnight.

Except those having exemptions granted by the government, all other people would not be allowed to come out from their homes, he said, adding: “The police’s strategy is to persuade the people to stay home and isolate themselves from any engagements to avoid spread of the virus.”

Law enforcers are also trying to persuade people to offer prayers at their homes

He said that all restaurants in the South zone had stopped their dining service but takeaway would be allowed.

He said that they would ensure that the people should not gather in crowds or groups outside the restaurants in Clifton, Defence or other areas for takeaways.

Mosques can’t be shut

However, two senior police officers, who wished not to be named, told Dawn that they would not ‘forcibly’ shut the mosques in the city or prevent people from offering prayers in the mosques.

“We have no strategy to close the mosques,” said one officer.

Another officer said that the police in different areas would try to persuade the people to offer prayers at their homes or separately inside the mosques.

The officer said that the police had also distributed pamphlets asking the prayer leaders to advise the people to offer prayers at their home instead of coming to mosques in case they were suffering from flu, cough or fever to prevent the spread of Covid-19.

The police urged the citizens to demonstrate themselves as good citizen by avoiding congregations in mosques.

Public announcements

Soon after the announcement of the lockdown, policemen were seen making public announcement asking people to avoid gathering or face police action.

Officials said the Kharadar police started announcement from the city’s biggest mosque, New Memon Masjid, asking the people “to get medical check-up in case they are suffering from flu, cough and fever; don’t come out from their homes without any plausible reason, avoid crowds and offer prayers inside their homes”.

The Defence police used mobile vehicles to urge the people in Defence near Kalapul to stay at home to avoid being infected with this menace.

In other areas, the policemen by foot also made announcement through loudspeakers, asking the people to keep social distance, avoid visiting streets, clean their hands, avoid handshake and if anyone was suffering from flu, cough and fever, he/she should separate himself/herself from other family members and get a check-up.

The policemen were also seen asking the people staying at footpaths or begging on roads to leave the place. Some policemen carried sticks, asking the shopkeepers to close their businesses.

Area SHOs also advised the people and shopkeepers in their respective jurisdictions to maintain appropriate distance while purchasing eatable items.

Security around key hospitals

Meanwhile, the police said that necessary security arrangements had been made at the Dr Ruth Pfau Civil Hospital Karachi, Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation (SIUT) and other hospitals where coronavirus patients were being tested and treated.

Separately, DIG-Traffic Javed Mahar held a meeting, which was attended by senior traffic officers, to chalk out strategy for implementation of the complete lockdown.

He issued directions for deployment of the traffic police at important points and hospitals while taking precautionary measures for the staff.

Earlier, the IGP also ordered that a crackdown was initiated on absconders/proclaimed offenders involved in murder, robberies, street crimes and other heinous crimes.

He stressed early detection of untraced crimes and proper presentation of charge sheets before courts and announced that officers’ performance would be assessed.

He said that performance of SHOs, station investigation officers and investigation officers would be assessed on the basis of their operational and investigation capacity.

The provincial police chief reiterated his resolve to provide more resources to the investigation wing of the police for better investigation of the cases.

Published in Dawn, March 23rd, 2020