Rawalpindi mayhem: Government decides to lift curfew

RAWALPINDI: Government has decided to lift the curfew from violence-hit Rawalpindi after the security forces managed to restore calm to the garrison city, Geo News reported Sunday.

“The curfew will be lifted after 6am Monday until further orders,” said the DCO Rawalpindi.

According to the Ministry of Interior, all the markets will re-open tomorrow (Monday). However, it added that the security forces will continue to stay in the affected parts of the city to maintain peace.

The government had earlier announced to relax the curfew from 7:30 PM till 12 midnight.

Earlier in the day, Funeral prayers of three persons killed in the Rawalpindi incident was offered at Liaquat Bagh. Maulna Samiul Haq led the prayers.

Defying the curfew that entered into the second day today, a large number of people came out to hold the funeral prayers for the deceased. The security forces did try to put barricades in the way of the funeral procession and also resorted to aerial firing but the people kept on marching to hold the prayers.

Realizing the sensitivity of the situation, the administration at last allowed the people to hold the funeral prayers.

Strict security remained in place during the funeral prayers which was attended by a big crowd of people.

At the conclusion of the funeral prayers, the attendees dispersed peacefully on the call of Ulema present on the occasion.

The deceased were among nine people who lost their lives in sectarian clashes that erupted on the occasion of Yaum-e-Ashur in the garrison city of Rawalpindi on Friday. Sixty others sustained injuries in the incident that took place when a procession coincided with a sermon at a nearby mosque.

Army was called in and curfew was declared to quell the unrest.

A judicial commission, headed by Lahore High Court (LHC) Judge Justice Mamoon Rashid Shaikh, has been formed to investigate into the deadly incident.