IGP orders police to devise contingency plan for Eidul Azha

Sindh police chief Ghulam Nabi Memon has ordered his subordinates to prepare a comprehensive contingency plan for Eidul Azha, which is around a fortnight away, and he has also ordered that strict adherence to the code of conduct should be part of the contingency plan.

Officials said that IGP Memon has directed the police to implement the code of conduct and neutralise all security threats by taking all stakeholders into confidence.

The police chief has ordered that the contingency plan be prepared on a priority basis and submitted for review so as to ensure the protection of the lives and properties of the people. He said that all the registered welfare and social institutions and organisations, madrasas and other stakeholders should abide by the contents and conditions of the code of conduct issued by the provincial government.

He added that they should also abide by the written permits and other necessary documents regarding the collection and transfer of hides of the sacrificial animals. Memon ordered that the investigation process should be made part of the contingency plan.

The IGP said that under the Eidul Azha security plan, steps should be taken at all levels to implement the orders issued from time to time from the Central Command & Control Centre at the Central Police Office so that suspicious activities could be detected through recce, surveillance and monitoring.

He said that in order to ensure law and order, and complete police control over the situation, measures should be taken accordingly. The police chief said that lists of all mosques, Imambargahs, Eidgahs and other open spaces for Eid prayers in the province should be reviewed, and they should later be divided into categories to ensure the deployment of not only the relevant police but also police commandos.

He stressed that the responsibilities of the senior superintendents of police, superintendents of police, sub-divisional police officers and station house officers should also be covered in detail. Moreover, he said, surveillance teams consisting of plain-clothes personnel should also be formed at the level of police stations, and their deployment should be made possible at shopping centres, animal markets, designated parking lots, inside and around Eid prayer venues, and other crowded public places.