With Muharram beginning June 17 and Ashura on June 26, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi’s peace committee has ordered action on social-media incitement, while Punjab deploys army and Rangers for thousands of processions.
Federal Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, joined by Minister of State for Interior Tallal Chaudhry, chaired a meeting of the Paigham-i-Aman Committee in Islamabad on Monday to finalise arrangements for Muharram, with the committee resolving to act against those spreading sectarian material on social media during the mourning month, Dawn reported. Muharram begins on June 17 and Ashura, which commemorates the Battle of Karbala, falls on June 26, per Dawn.
Naqvi said the Paigham-i-Pakistan Committee would be “made active and effective down to the district level,” described maintaining order during Muharram as a “collective responsibility,” and announced the appointment of a coordinator for the peace committee, according to Dawn. The session was attended by prominent religious scholars including Allama Tahir Mahmood Ashrafi, Senator Hafiz Abdul Karim and Bishop Azad Marshall, alongside coordinators of provincial peace committees and representatives of registered madrassa boards, the paper reported.
At the district level, peace committees have been reviewing security, administrative and coordination arrangements aimed at preserving law and order and inter-sect harmony during the month, Associated Press of Pakistan reported, citing the example of a committee in Attock that called for unity and sectarian tolerance.
In Punjab, the provincial Home Department held consultations with religious scholars and community leaders across districts including Lahore, Faisalabad, Gujrat, Multan and Rawalpindi to discuss security for Muharram processions and gatherings, The Express Tribune reported. Authorities imposed restrictions under Section 144 from the 1st to the 10th of Muharram, including a ban on pillion riding on the 9th and 10th — with exemptions for senior citizens, women, Rescue 1122 staff and law-enforcement personnel — and prohibited provocative slogans, gestures and actions liable to incite sectarian tension, per the same report.
The scale of the deployment is substantial. In the Gujranwala and Gujrat divisions alone, officials said arrangements had been finalised for 6,858 majalis and 1,588 processions, with eight companies of the Pakistan Army and 11 companies of the Rangers assigned to assist police in Gujranwala Division, The Express Tribune reported. Orders were also issued for the monitoring and movement restriction of 353 religious speakers and zakireen as part of the security plan, the paper said.
The measures reflect an annual effort to head off sectarian friction during a period that has seen violence in past years, with the federal committee framing its work around promoting religious tolerance and an “atmosphere of brotherhood,” according to Dawn. The online-content element extends that effort into social media, where the committee said action would be taken against accounts spreading incitement and sectarian hatred, per Dawn.
