Curfew ends in Rawalpindi; Section 144 persists

ISLAMABAD: The curfew, which remained imposed in Rawlpindi since the Friday clashes has been lifted, however, Section 144 of Criminal Penal Code (CrPC) will stay in force as a precautionary measure until further orders.

The Rawalpindi administration had decided that curfew would be lifted at 06:00 AM on Monday after which Section 144 will continue to be imposed in the city.

This decision was taken in a meeting chaired by DCO Sajid Zafar Dull.The city remained under curfew for two days which had crippled routine life creating a scarcity of food and other essential goods.The army, Rangers and other law enforcement agencies would remain on high alert to handle any untoward situation.

The schools and markets will open today and city will start coming to normalcy after three days.

The residents, who were literally under house arrest for three days, have heaved a sigh of relief as they suffered the most during the curfew.

Acquisition of some basic necessities of life had become extremely difficult for the buyers as shopkeepers, who were running low on supplies, resorted to black-marketing.

A 20kg bag of flour sold for Rs1000 and eggs for Rs25 each during the curfew.

Meanwhile, Punjab Chief Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif constituted a high-level Fact Finding Committee on the Rawalpindi tragedy which occurred on Ashura day, triggering violence and forcing the administration to impose curfew for two days with a little respite of three hours at night. The government had already constituted a judicial commission under the chair of LHC judge Justice Mamoon Hussain.

Former chairman Chief Minister’s Inspection Team Najam Saeed will be the convener of the committee and Prosecution Secretary Nadeem Irshad Kiyani and Additional IG Investigation Muhammad Amlesh will be members of the committee.

The committee will point out any administrative and security lapse and negligence with regard to the tragic incident. The committee will also identify those responsible for dereliction of duty or laxity and propose measures for checking such incidents in the future and submit its report to the chief minister within seven days.