Delhi Police on Friday said they have made elaborate security arrangements in the city in view of the final journey and funeral ceremony of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

The founding member of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), who breathed his last at the All India Medical Sciences (AIIMS) here on Thursday, will be laid to rest at the Smriti Sthal on the banks of the Yamuna.

“We have made elaborate security arrangements for the last rites and the procession ahead of it.

“We will ensure that people who come to pay their last respects and the commuters face minimum inconvenience,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (New Delhi) Madhur Verma said.

Former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda today mourned the death of AB Vajpayee, saying with his passing a vacuum has been created in polity, as several state leaders joined him in expressing grief. In his condolence message, Gowda said with the death of Vajpayee, the country lost a statesman and politician who believed in the country’s diverse culture. “He was a true parliamentarian.

With his death, a vacuum has been created in polity and end of an era of politics in this country. He was a great orator who refused to attack his opponent personally. He did not allow the House to be disturbed during my tenure as the prime minister for the 11months,” Gowda said.

Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy described Vajpayee as being among a “rare breed” of politicians who lived as per the values they believed in.

“His death has created a vacuum in the political circle of the country,” he said. Quoting a line from Vajpayee’s poem that said “Will never accept defeat, will never be afraid of new challenges”, Kumaraswamy said it was a mirror to his personality. He was a great orator and parliamentarian, he said. Congress’ Karnataka president Dinesh Gundu Rao took to Twitter to condole the death.

“Atal Bihari Vajpayee, one of the most well-respected, loved and broad hearted political statesman India has seen. A towering personality and a great orator. I express my deepest condolences on his passing away. We are all going to miss him,” he tweeted. BJP state president and former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa said it was a great loss to the country, especially BJP, for which he was a leading and guiding spirit.

“Country has lost a great political thinker and a statesman in the death of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee,” Yeddyurappa said in his message.

The former chief minister recalled that Vajpayee’s organizational and political acumen was put to test during his regime when he led the NDA comprising more than 25 parties with political agenda of their own.

“Still the words of Vajpayee at Mumbai plenary session of BJP in 1990 when BJP got only two seats in the Lok Sabha, ‘Andhera Chatega, Suraj Niklega, Kamal Khilega’ (Darkness goes, sunrises and lotus blooms) keeps reminding me of his vision and optimism in politics. This vision and optimism of Vajpayee made the workers and leaders to work harder and Narendra Modi to win the elections 2014 by a thumping majority,” Yeddyurappa said.

Others who expressed grief over the death were deputy chief minister Parameshwara, Congress vice president Eshwar Khandre and BJP Rajya Sabha MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar.

In an unprecedented gesture, the government of Mauritius will fly both the Mauritian and Indian national flags at half mast on Friday in honour of former Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

“Following the passing away of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the government has decided that both the Mauritius and India flags will remain at half mast from sunrise to sunset on Friday,” a directive issued by the office of Mauritius Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth said.

“An appeal is also being made to the private sector for ll flags to be flown at half mast during the same period,” it said.

Vajpayee passed away in Delhi on Thursday at the age of 93 after prolonged illness.

Around 68 per cent of Mauritius’s population of nearly 1.3 million are of Indian descent. Many are descendants of Indian indentured labour brought to work on sugarcane plantations on the Indian Ocean island nation in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

In a condolence message to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Jugnauth said that Vajpayee “shaped the destiny of India through his bold leadership and his deep-rooted empathy for the common man”.

“Today, as India shines as a beacon of progress and development on the global stage, we cannot forget the strong and able stewardship of Vajpayee,” Jugnauth stated.

“His was a leadership characterised by determination, perseverance, fairness and equity.”

Jugnauth also recalled Vajpayee’s deep affection for Mauritius and its people and said that “we were honoured to receive him in March 2000 as chief guest at the National Day celebrations and whenever he visited Mauritius”.

“Mauritius mourns the loss of a man who stood not only for India but also for Mauritius,” he said.

A four-member delegation from Pakistan will be attending the last rites of former Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on Friday, the media reported.

Caretaker Law and Information Minister Ali Zafar, Foreign Office spokesperson Mohammad Faisal and other senior officials from the Law Ministry will represent Pakistan at Vajpayee’s funeral, Geo News reported citing sources.

The delegation will return the same day after attending the funeral, it said.

Vajpayee, 93, had battled poor health for years, and died at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi on Thursday.

His last rites will be performed at 4 p.m. at Smriti Sthal.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who talked to Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on the flood situation on Friday, will travel to the state for an aerial of the affected areas on Saturday.

“Later this evening, I will be heading to Kerala to take stock of the unfortunate situation due to flooding,” Modi tweeted.

“Had a telephone conversation with Kerala Chief Minister just now. We discussed the flood situation across the state and reviewed rescue operations. ”

Modi is expected to land in Thiruvananthapuram by 9 p.m. and will be staying at the Raj Bhavan. He will take an aerial survey of the flood-hit areas on Saturday.

Torrential rains, overflowing rivers and a series of landslides have resulted in the death of nearly 100 people in the state.

Thousands of Muslims from around the world gathered on Friday in the Saudi Arabian city of Mecca ahead of the annual Haj pilgrimage.

Pilgrims were praying around the Kaaba at the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Islam’s most sacred site, where Muslims go each year to perform the Haj, reports Efe news.

Saudi Arabian authorities announced earlier that more than 1.6 million people had arrived in the holy city of Mecca for this year’s Haj, which starts on Sunday.

Minister of Haj and Umrah Mohamed Benten said on Thursday that Qatari pilgrims had reached the kingdom through Kuwait, stressing Qataris were not prevented from performing Haj.

Riyadh has cut all economic and transport links with its smaller neighbour Qatar in June last year over allegations of funding terrorism.

Muslims are expected to perform the Haj, one of Islam’s five pillars, at least once in their lifetime, provided they are fit enough and have the financial means to do so.