Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh has increased security measures to maintain law and order during Muharram processions on Ashura, the tenth day of the mourning month. A senior police official reported that 14 central paramilitary forces and 151 Provincial Armed Constabulary companies have been deployed in different districts for Muharram processions.
Vigilance has been intensified in communally sensitive districts, with officials being asked to make necessary police arrangements on the routes of Tazia processions and mourning places. As many as 89,000 tazias are being set up at different places on separate dates during the ongoing Muharram month from July 7, with the highest number of 36,000 in the 11 districts of the Gorakhpur zone. Around 23,000 processions are being taken out in nine districts of the Bareilly zone. Special police deployment has been done in the state capital, Lucknow. Director General of Police Prashant Kumar issued detailed guidelines to officials of sensitive districts, ensuring no new processions or routes would be allowed.
All posters and banners from the processions’ routes have been removed to maintain peace and counter rumour-mongering through social media platforms. Closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras have been installed on routes, and police personnel will be equipped with body-worn cameras and drones for aerial vigil.
