Home ministry sources said that the government took the decision to declare a three-day public holiday in the province after intelligence reports about heightened terrorist attacks in the first 10-days of Muharram.
"Police and rangers have already started blocking the roads and shutting down shops and markets on the procession route as a security measure," an official said.
The official said as part of heightened security measures for Muharram, 40,000 personal of the Police, Rangers and Frontier Constabulary will be deployed in Karachi while Police officials will also be deployed on high buildings to monitor security.
Around 350 CCTV cameras have also been installed on the Muharram procession routes leading from Nishtar Park to Tower.
The routes will be checked by the bomb disposal squad and sniffer dogs. A total of 10,000 policemen will be deployed to provide security to the main procession.
Federal interior minister, Rehman Malik said that a decision on suspending cellular services on the weekend would also be taken by Thursday night while home ministry sources said there was every likelihood of a ban on motorcycle riding in the Sindh and Baluchistan provinces on the 9th and 10th of Muharram.
"They are intelligence reports about the Tehreek-e-Taliban and other militant groups planning terrorist attacks in different cities at the weekend and the government is taking no chances at all," one source said.
The TTP on Thursday claimed responsibility for carrying out the bomb blasts in Karachi and Rawalpindi yesterday in which around 23 people were killed.
