PESHAWAR, Dec 28: The police are likely to face a challenging situation while tackling law and order on the occasion of Muharram in the provincial capital.
The police have devised strategy for maintenance of peace and tranquillity, and decided to deploy security personnel around all imambargahs in the city from Monday.
A source in the police department said that the concerned high-ups had so far decided to deploy five persons (one head-constable and four constables) at each imambargah, while the number would be increased in the areas which were more vulnerable and sensitive.
Security personnel, he said, would also be deployed at the mosques located at exposed locations in the city and cantonment areas of Peshawar.
He said some 1,500 police personnel would be called from different districts of the province to meet the target of approximately 5,000 personnel.
The source said that the services of the trainee personnel at the Police Training School Hangu would also be availed on the occasion, as the situation seemed to be more serious as compare to the past.
He said the imambargahs were located in densely populated areas and maintenance of peace was always difficult for the
police due to movement of the people.
Some police officials said that the Kotwali area was declared as the most sensitive location where 17 imambargahs were situated. In the Shah Qabool area the number of imambargah was 15, in Hashtnagri the imambargahs were eight, in Kabuli area eight, in Gulbahar seven, Chamkani three, Yakatut had one but that was closed for the last few years.
The Hussainia Imambargah at Saddar is also stated to be in the list of most sensitive places where security personnel would be deployed more than any other place. It is pertinent to mention that in the previous two years the miscreants carried two suicide attacks and took many precious lives of innocent people in the city.
The officials must have in their mind that a suspected suicide blast in the Qisakhwani bazaar had claimed at least 13 people, including the Peshawar police chief, Malak Mohammad Saad and others on January 27, 2007. Another suicide blast took the lives of at least 13 people in an imambargah on January 17, and in yet another bomb blast about 36 persons were killed at Kocha Risaldar on Dec 5.