Hospitals in the federal capital on high alert, metro bus service suspended until Thursday

Zubair Qureshi

Hospitals in Islamabad – Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), Polyclinic and others have been put on high alert to provide medical care on 9th and 10th Muharram. At the same time, Metro bus services between Rawalpindi and Islamabad have also been suspended to ensure security during Ashura.

On the advice of intelligence agencies and to maintain law and order in the twin cities during the Muharram Ashura festival, bus services will be suspended, Islamabad Police and Rawalpindi Police Department officials said on Monday. In Rawalpindi, the Muharram procession from Bhabara Bazaar to Committee Chowk – on Murree Road – will pass under the elevated portion of the metro, which could pose a security risk.

Meanwhile, the municipality has also suspended metro bus services after Maghrib prayers on 7 Muharram (Sunday) due to processions in different parts of the garrison city.

According to a Punjab Mass-Transit Authority official, the local administration asked the management of the Rawalpindi-Islamabad Metro Bus Service to stop bus operations on Tuesday evening as the procession route would be blocked a day before Ashura.

A district government official said that the metro bus service to Ashura would be suspended, adding that the measure was taken for security reasons.

“Due to the holidays and the closure of the twin cities for Ashura, the bus passengers are also unavailable,” he said, adding that the bus service will start as planned from July 18, Thursday morning (Muharram 11). He said that police will be stationed on the elevated railway to protect the mourners and the sensitive sites.

Meanwhile, PIMS, Polyclinic, Federal General Hospital, ChakShehzad and National Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine (Nims) remain on high alert to respond to any type of emergency.

The decision was taken on the instructions of the Prime Minister’s Advisor on Health, Dr Mukhtar Ahmed. According to a statement, the Advisor on Health instructed hospitals to take special precautionary measures such as ensuring availability of all necessary medicines in emergency rooms.

The heads of these government hospitals have been instructed to ensure basic precautions are taken, such as ensuring that sufficient beds are available for emergency cases.