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It happened again. Rapper Talha Anjum was recently performing in Islamabad when a bottle was tossed at him from somewhere in the audience. Having been through the ordeal multiple times, he chose to react in a relatively civil manner and said he was disappointed with his fans for their behaviour.

The rapper recounted his experiences performing in Bangladesh and Canada, where he said he was treated with utmost respect. Recalling an incident where a fan from India touched his feet as a gesture of reverence and appreciated his art, Anjum said it was sad to see his compatriots misbehave at his shows.

The last time something like this happened, during a performance in June, the rapper had his security team drag the alleged heckler onto the stage and escorted him out of the venue. He also made some crass remarks in the heat of the moment, for which he received some flak.

At another performance in January, a bottle reportedly hit Anjum on the face, forcing him to stop the show midway and leave the venue. His manager later bashed the organisers for mismanagement and a lack of accountability.

It’s easy to dismiss these incidents as isolated cases of mismanagement, but that fails to address the underlying cause of these issues: Pakistani society’s disregard — bordering dangerously on contempt — for the arts.

The ‘Departure Lane’ star makes a good point with his comparison between fans here and those in India and Bangladesh. While their cultures see music, dance and other art forms as a method of divine expression, Pakistanis often consider these things to be disgraceful. We even have a dedicated library of demeaning terms used for musicians, words like bhaand and marasi — both of which are classist terms for entertainers and musicians.

This lack of respect then seeps into people’s behaviour at concerts, especially as they become increasingly democratised and accessible. It isn’t just Anjum’s fans, either, though many would suggest that, based on the nature of his music, unpleasant incidents at concerts are unfortunately common because of the crowd he attracts.

Case in point, a ‘mega musical event’ held in Hyderabad by the Arts Council of Pakistan on August 8 as part of this year’s Independence Day celebrations, where Anjum and his partner Talha Younus shared the stage with Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, Sanam Marvi and Akhtar Chanal. Organisers and the local administration played a blame game after several families in attendance reported incidents of women attendees being whistled at, touched and groped in the crowd.

The very next week, Atif Aslam was performing at an Independence Day event in Karachi when he had to stop singing and call on organisers to protect girls who were visibly uncomfortable being packed like sardines in the crowd. The provincial governor, who was hosting the concert at his residence, had to step in and appeal for the crowd to settle down.

This highlights another problem in social conduct among Pakistanis: misogyny. In a space where people already suffer from a lack of public spaces and events where they can enjoy themselves in peace, women suffer more so, as they face the near-constant threat of being harassed at any such public space or event.

As it stands, this situation is untenable, and we are already seeing the build-up of a perception that concerts aren’t safe for people to go to. Events that are a formative experience for young people globally have started to be seen as something boys and girls should stay away from.

That impacts the industry too, as many of our bigger artists have begun to do more shows abroad than they do in their home country. While increased revenue at foreign shows is a major aspect of that, nobody wants their name associated with events where people were harassed.

Steps must be taken to promote a healthier culture around concerts, and that has to start with acknowledging we have a problem. Organisers need to make more stringent efforts to keep crowds in check and require some level of vetting of attendees.

Concert-goers, meanwhile, need to keep in mind that they have a responsibility to the people around them to be decent human beings, as they would in any other public setting.