Overview
- The three-day 983rd Urs at Data Darbar formally opened with the traditional chadar-poshi ceremony on Sunday, August 2, and was inaugurated by Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar.
- Punjab Police finalised a province-wide security plan that deploys more than 42,000 officers with over 10,000 posted in Lahore and thousands more assigned to Majalis and processions across the region.
- Security screening and surveillance include 390 walk-through gates, 6,427 metal detectors, Safe Cities camera monitoring, rooftop snipers and special control rooms to monitor crowds and procession routes in real time.
- City traffic authorities put in place detailed road closures, diversions, parking stands and over 900 traffic wardens to manage pilgrim flows, the Punjab government declared a local holiday for Lahore on August 4, and selective mobile-phone services were temporarily suspended in some inner-city areas.
- Officials have also staged wide civic support — Clinic on Wheels, ambulances, rescue desks, sanitation teams, large-scale langar and milk distribution and extra Suthra Punjab cleaning crews — to help hundreds of thousands of devotees and to limit public-health and safety disruptions.