LAHORE
Lahore Police deputed 4,000 cops for the comprehensive security of PTI’s public meeting at and around Mall Road to avert any untoward incident on Sunday.
Though minor skirmishes between activists and cops were witnessed, no major untoward incident occurred. The activists of PTI alleged that they were stopped to reach the venue using different tactics.
Most of the routes leading to Mall Road were blocked by placing containers and mounting pickets. All SHOs of Model Town Division, City Division and Civil Lines Division were called in for the security duties of PTI’s procession and JUP’s convention at Aiwan-e-Iqbal.
With the dawn of the day, the force was deputed on Egerton Road, Fatima Jinnah Road, Mall Road and its linking arteries. The force had to stand by foot for the whole day in the scorching hot weather without timely availability of water and meals.
The force kept on finding alternate ways to arrange drinking water and other edibles. The activity of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) procession started after 2pm and the participants started pouring in at the venue.
According to the comprehensive security plan, the participants were frisked under three layered security. At the first point, they were stopped by the cops at pickets while at the second point, they had to go through manual checking. At the third layer of the security, the PTI activists had to go through the walk-through gates besides being frisked through metal detectors.
Special arrangements were made for the female activists of the party to avoid eve teasing. Lady police were deputed for the surveillance of ladies. The officials of special branch and other sensitive agencies were also appointed in civvies to keep a strict vigil against suspects and unattended things. Monitoring the procession venue was also done through CCTVs and drone cameras.
As the participants of the procession including leaders of PTI were not aware of the entry points, they had to roam about the city to reach the venue. Some of the MPAs also exchanged harsh words with the cops of Lahore Police but they were guided to the entry points.
Chief Traffic Officer of City Traffic Police had deputed special force at and around the procession venue to divert the traffic on alternate routes. DIG Operations Dr Haider Ashraf said only token force was deployed at 11am so that nobody could enter the limits of the procession venue. He added later on major force was deployed at and around the venue at 12 noon. The force cleared the venue with the help of bomb disposal squad and then allowed the entry of participants of the event.
To a question, DIG said drinking water, juices and biscuits were supplied to the cops timely. He said he personally monitored supply of food and other items to the jawans. However, he admitted that at some points the supply could have been late due to the blockages of roads.
CCPO Lahore claimed that the Lahore police had utilised all available resources to provide security to the PTI’s procession on Sunday. He added snipers were deployed at buildings around the venue and search and sweep operations were conducted in the city particularly in pathan and Afghan localities adjacent to the Mall. All inns, hotels, guest houses, Lorri Adda, Railway Station and bus stands were also properly checked. He informed that night vision cameras were also installed at over 70 places, including entry points of the venue to avert any untoward incident. Lahore Police also continued monitoring of the procession through central control room. DIG Operations Dr Haider Ashraf personally checked security arrangements and continued briefing cops. The force was especially directed to behave with the participants of the procession politely.
Lahore Police had received particular threat alerts about the presence of terrorists in the City and the PTI leadership was duly informed about threats. Divisional SPs also kept on checking duty points personally on the orders of CCPO and briefed cops to handle the untoward situation. All emergency vehicles, including fire trucks, bomb disposal squads and ambulances were deputed at seven special points so that it could be moved without any hindrance in case of any emergency.
