KOHAT, March 18: Deputy Inspector General of Police Abdul Majeed Marwat announced on Saturday that 4,500 personnel from police, Frontier Constabulary and regular army would be deployed in Hangu and Kohat to ensure security during the chehlum of Hazrat Imam Hussain (AS) on March 21.

The announcement was made by Mr Marwat at the Kohat Police Club in an address to two separate jirgas of Shia and Sunni elders convened to form peace and monitoring committees for the chehlum processions.

This will be the largest deployment of security personnel for the occasion in the region’s history and comes in the wake of last month’s suicide bomb blast following by violence which claimed more than 46 lives and damage to led to property worth Rs1.49 billion.

The jirgas were attended by District Nazim Gohar Saifullah Khan, SSP Dr Ishtiaq Marwat, SP investigation, union council nazims, central secretary general of Tehrik-i-Nifaz-i-Fiqah Jafria, Mazhar Ali Shah, chairman of Ittehad Bain Al Mulsimeen, Syed Mahtab ul Hassan, secretary general of Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat, Mohammad Abid Paracha, president of bazaar union Sher Khan Bangash, patron in chief of bazaar union and president of Kohat Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Manzoor Ahmed Paracha and elders from both the communities.

The participants discussed and reviewed the security plan for the chehlum processions to be held in various parts of Kohat on March 21 and March 26. They unanimously decided to form committees which would ensure that nobody from Punjab and tribal areas came to Kohat to participate in this year’s Chehlum programmes.

Both the parties agreed to jointly guard areas along the procession routes, especially Kohat bazaar, in an effort to stop miscreants from damaging public property.

The DIG assured the participants that the government would utilise all the resources at its disposal to guarantee security during the Chehlum and take fool-proof security measures for the purpose.

He reminded the elders from both the sides of their responsibility not to allow aliens to participate in the processions because it was easy for locals to recognise them.

He exhorted the leaders and ulema to identify as well as restrain sinister elements among them from indulging in acts that hurt the feelings of another community. “You should inform the police at once in case somebody tries to damage public property and disrupts peace in a bid to gain political mileage,” he said.

Meanwhile, a supreme jirga of Orakzai Agency tribesmen comprising six members from each community was in session for the fifth day to broker a peace agreement between the aggrieved parties before the Chehlum procession and Nauroze festival in the volatile town of Hangu.

The jirga has not been able to secure cash guarantees, which are required under tribal traditions from both sides before any decision can be announced.