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Lahore's Kinnaird College administration to file FIR after stampede at Hasan Raheem, Asim Azhar concert

Lahore's Kinnaird College administration to file FIR after stampede at Hasan Raheem, Asim Azhar concert

Azhar was not able to perform at the concert, said "people in the crowd [were] getting injured".
Updated 12 Mar, 2022

The administration of Lahore's Kinnaird College For Women plans to file an FIR after a stampede at an all-women concert organised on campus on March 11. Students have been taking to social media to decry mismanagement and one of the performers, Asim Azhar, said he was unable to perform because "people [were] getting injured."

The capacity of the amphitheatre where the concert was held was approximately 2,500 but over 3,500 tickets were sold, according to one of the organisers of the event. This led to chaos outside the venue, several people not being allowed to enter despite possessing tickets, and a stampede inside. At least one student was injured but the extent of her injuries is still unclear. The varsity administration said so far, they have received no official complaints. They accepted that one student had been injured and said the claims on social media were "false".

The university's Vice-Chancellor's Office confirmed to Images that an FIR will be lodged and said refunds for the concert tickets for those who were not able to enter the premises are under way. So far, the university says it has refunded Rs200,000 worth of tickets to women who had bought tickets but were not able to enter the amphitheatre. The administration has asked the organisers to refund the money to the students and issue an apology to the artists, especially Asim Azhar. A meeting was held on Saturday to discuss their course of action.

The Race Course Police confirmed that no FIR had been filed as of Saturday evening.

The concert lineup featured artists such as Hasan Raheem, Azhar, Risham Faiz Bhutta, Ali Arif and the band, Sami Khan and a surprise performance by actor Hira Mani. However, Azhar was unable to appear on stage.

Raheem and other celebrities shared clips from the event, showing a massive crowd.

Asim Azhar speaks out

Azhar took to Instagram to apologise to all the people who were "disappointed" that he couldn't perform and came specifically for him. "I was backstage the entire time with my team ready - but due to the issues of management and crowd control, they told us we could not perform. There were a lot of people in the crowd getting injured and they had to stop it," he wrote.

Azhar also wrote that the venue capacity could not hold the amount of people that were present. He also said that he had no "other choice but to listen to the management" as it was legitimately concerning. He called it as surprising for him as it was for the people who were there to watch him perform. "We are disappointed as you guys are. Trust me," wrote the singer while hoping that he meets everyone very soon.

The 'Ghalat Fehmi' singer wrote that sometimes thing are out of his and his team's control and that nothing makes him more sad than not being able to see and perform for his fans. He also clarified that his team had no idea about the ticket situation and that the management or the organisers are to be blamed in this case. "We are just artists who are called to perform. However we still apologise on the management's behalf as well," the singer wrote.

Azhar mentioned that if this had been controlled beforehand, nobody could've gotten injured. He also repeated on how "disappointed" he and his team were. The singer wrote, "we have also put pressure on the organisers to control the damages and get a refund for every person who bought the ticket and wasn't able to watch the rest of the performances due to THEIR lack of protocol."

He also lent support to those affected and injured at the event. "I'd love to help out in any way that I can. All love and prayers for you guys," said Azhar.

Organisers apologise

The 25-year-old singer's explanation came hours after the organisers, Top Ventures Events posted an apology and explanation of what happened at the concert. "To begin with, we want to apologise to the attendees who bought tickets to this event. In our defense, we stopped over 400 attendees with fake passes of the event and when the gates crashed due to excessive push from the crowd, hundred attendees entered the venue without tickets," wrote the organisers.

They also admitted that this caused injuries and distress to those who "had legitimate tickets" at the event. The organisers claimed that "attendees climbed over the walls, ripped through our security fencing and pushed through gates to enter the venue, causing management problems."

An organiser told Images on the condition of anonymity that the concert was held at the amphitheatre of the college and due to poor management there was a stampede. The show was organised by the business department of the college with some private sponsors involved. Azhar was asked to leave due to the stampede and could not perform, confirmed the organiser.

They also revealed that only two to three singers were able to perform at the event, including Raheem. There was a capacity of 2,500 people, but the management sold 3,500 tickets, said the organiser.

The matter was brought into the knowledge of the principal of Kinnaird College who called off the event immediately. The police confirmed to Images that they received a call to 15 and sent officers to the scene. The college administration said they called the police to control the crowd. Images could not confirm whether the administration made the call as all calls to 15 are anonymous.

Students outraged

A student who attended the event told Images that they waited for an hour or two in long queues outside the amphitheatre, waiting for the gates to open. When they did, the crowd got forceful and pushed each other to get to the gates, which resulted in a lot of chaos and confusion, she said.

The bouncers let some women in in batches, shutting the gates at intervals. The crowd was huge and the constricted movement led to some attendees “fainting and falling down.” The student mentioned that the security people were rather brisk and rude with crowd control and passed “derogatory remarks.”

She shared how she was personally affected by the “mismanaged” concert. “There were metal barriers outside the amphitheatre and my friend and I were standing very close to them. The security didn't open them, saying that the house was full and there is no more space. People kept pushing, my friend and I were pushed into the barrier which hit us so bad that I have a bruise. People were screaming in pain, crying, protesting and demanding refunds.”

She continued, “My scarf was displaced from my head, resulting in knots around my neck and I couldn't breathe. I felt as if there was no air — there literally wasn't — and I just couldn't take it anymore.”

The student said they were promised refunds nothing was done. “Then they said we'll refund your money if you show us your tickets, which didn't happen as expected.” When they announced they won't refund the money, a couple of girls went up to confront them but were met with shouts and verbal abuses, according to the student.

Many other students took to social media to share their outrage at the mismanagement.

The university management says it will release a statement on the incident.

Comments

Ifti Malik Mar 12, 2022 07:33pm
What a stupid and shallow society we are , what are we teaching these new generations? KC Lahore used to be a fine educational institution but now seems to be following the rest of the Pakistani herd . What was the need for this concert? The KC girls and their families should have instead collected all these funds and donated to help the poor Ukrainian refugees . The world is in the throes of war and pandemic and these people are fighting over concert entry. Shameful.
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Alih Kazmi Mar 12, 2022 07:59pm
Suffocation and fainting are required if you want to truly copy the West.
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El Cid Mar 12, 2022 08:13pm
Man hungry women on the lose!
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Jo Original Mar 12, 2022 08:31pm
So university won't act as no complaint has been filed. A joke. Health and safety is the responsibility of officials.
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M. Saeed Mar 12, 2022 09:22pm
We thought Kinnard's Collage was the epicentre of women's emancipation and decent grooming !
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Amjad Durrani Engineer USA Mar 12, 2022 10:18pm
Very sad and and indigestible wherein a social class comprising of only 5% indulged in following western culture. Much of what is today called "social criticism" consists of members of these upper classes of Pakistan denouncing the tastes of the lower classes (bawdy entertainment, fast food, plentiful consumer goods) while considering themselves egalitarians. In order that a select few in Pakistan might live in great opulence, millions of people work hard for an entire lifetime, never free from financial insecurity, and at great cost to the quality of their lives. The complaint is not that the very rich have so much more than everyone else but that their superabundance giving way to western life style and endless accumulation comes at the expense of everyone and everything else, including our extremely poor communities who even can’t afford a decent meal for themselves and their families and our environment.
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Irfan Huq Mar 12, 2022 11:24pm
Lack of governance top to bottom. This is Pakistan. Blame the concert.
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Haseen zulfain Mar 13, 2022 12:42am
People dont display your backward mindsets by commenting on girls' choice and character for attending the event, u dont want to attend dont but stop maligning women, maybe u arent familiar lc,kc,queen marry and some lahore colleges have always been holding concerts for eons,its not today's thing. It's a poorly managed event which resulted in this. The pandemic is on going so i think either concert shouldnt be held or be held on limit attendence. Anyways, fault lies with management and i doubt there will be any accoutability of responsible parties.
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Multani Mar 13, 2022 04:12am
Women cannot be at such concerts and then complain being molested by men during such events which is very possible, better just stay home with family.
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nk Mar 13, 2022 06:21am
@Ifti Malik Not the Pakistan herd the Western herd. The younger generation of this nation are going berserk. The parents have to do a lot of pondering how to bring up their children. These recent concert trends have already caused lots of nuisance and harm.
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nk Mar 13, 2022 06:22am
What happened to this prestigious college that they are going for concerts.
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Bilal Mar 13, 2022 08:26am
Kinnaird College top management and administration are too corrupt. There is no authority government organization to take notice of their corruption. Recently, there was convocation in the college. They took Rs 10000/- from each graduating student in the name of convocation. The arrangement in conversation was pathetic. It was an open air function, there had rain on that day( a whole rain was already predicted). There was no tent installed at function and all students, their parents and even faculty members were drenched in rain.
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Sidc Mar 13, 2022 09:04am
@Ifti Malik Don’t be moral police , they are bad things in the world but kids still need to enjoy there music . These things happened everywhere. Recently in Houston US many people died in concert, doesn’t mean they stopped concert everywhere.
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Fatima Mar 13, 2022 10:52am
Exactly they were using abusive words for girls they are lying about fake passes i didn't see any girl they stoped bcz of it almost of of em had passes they just wanted to check tickets they didn't let us in even after seeing that girls are fainting and are getting injured they were just concerned with the tickets they were very rude they said if either you get injured or u die we don't care.
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Tenjee Mar 13, 2022 12:12pm
And here we lament and cry over concerts in Saudi Arabia, but allow this manifestation of Western culture to invade our universities. The more I see of the world the more I realise the truth that all humans are the same in nature and can be turned to or from Guidance in the same ways. Our youth are exposed to the same cultural poisonous influences as kids elsewhere and we see them adopting "alien" cultures. It really saddens to see so many people in Pakistan flocking to these events. In this I see the future trends. We need universities that promote our values and be places of genuine learning, and not be a conveyor belt of producing people with decadant habits.
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AH Mar 13, 2022 01:35pm
@Haseen zulfain This is not our culture and should not be promoted. It's you who is backward not the rest of us. I've lived in this culture and seen that it does not make people happy. What makes you happy is being close to Alllah.
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AH Mar 13, 2022 01:36pm
@Amjad Durrani Engineer USA This is how it is. Impose a small elite on the vast majority who have no values but are only slaves
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AH Mar 13, 2022 01:37pm
@Multani It's suppose to be female only but I can see number of men in the front
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Dr. Salaria, Aamir Ahmad Mar 13, 2022 05:40pm
As you sow, so shall you reap.
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