ISLAMABAD, March 19: District Magistrate Tariq Mehmood Khan has banned offering of prayers on roadside in the Capital to avoid any untoward incident.

In an order issued on Tuesday, all assistant commissioners and magistrates of Islamabad have been directed to ask mosque committees to stop organizing prayers on roadside, specially during Friday prayers.

When contacted, the district magistrate told Dawn that police and the district administration found it difficult to provide security to those offering prayers in open spaces outside the mosques.

The mosques committees have been directed to keep the people inside the mosques’ premises while offering prayers. “In case of violation of these orders, legal action will be taken against mosques committees,” the official warned.

Similarly, the Imambargahs’ committees have been asked not to hold any Azadari (mourning) meeting outside their buildings during Muharram.

The organizers should take prior permission from the district administration regarding holding of Azadari meetings so that proper security can be provided to the mourners, he said.

The district magistrate also took a serious note of unchecked pillion riding in Islamabad, despite a ban on the practice in the federal capital.

He said the SSP had been informed about the negligence of police personnel deployed at different roads in this regard, so that action could be taken against them. Talking about the grenade attack on a church in Diplomatic Enclave on Sunday, the official said the investigations were in progress at different levels.

He claimed that the main suspect died in the terrorist act as no one had came forward so far to identify the body of an unidentified person.