Country on High Alert for Ashura

Country on High Alert for Ashura

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan News: Pakistan went on high alert Monday, fearing sectarian clashes and militant attacks as millions of Shiites commemorated Ashura across the country.
Tens of thousands of police and paramilitary forces deployed in the capital Islamabad and major cities, with soldiers on standby and hundreds of ambulances accompanying Shiite processions, it was reproted.

Ashura rituals, which end today in Pakistan, see faithful in black march through the streets, flailing themselves with chains to commemorate the killing of Imam Hussein by armies of Yazid in 680.

“Security in Islamabad has been put on high alert,” police spokesman Naeem Iqbal told a news agency.

“Processions will be covered with security cameras and scanners have already been installed at the main gates of (Shiite mosque) Imambargah,” he added.

“Paramilitary personal have also been deployed and the army will remain on standby,” he added.

In Lahore, Pakistan’s most liberal city hit by a rising number of suicide and gun attacks, police patrolled roads and guarded roof tops.

“More than 25,000 policemen and officers have been deputed. No vehicle will be allowed to park near the Imambargah or the processions,” city police chief Pervez Rathore told AFP.

In northwest metropolis Peshawar, where 18 bomb attacks linked to the Taliban have struck in three months, 11,000 police and paramilitary personnel were on guard to protect processions, police said.

“Security is on high alert. The army is on standby if we need them,” Sahibzada Mohammad Anis, the city’s top administrative official told the media men.

In financial capital Karachi another 20,000 policemen and paramilitary Rangers were deployed, police said.

Militant attacks have killed more than 2,700 people since July 2007 and Washington is pressuring Pakistan to do more to crack down on Al-Qaeda and stop insurgents crossing the border to attack Western troops in Afghanistan.