Singing sensation Kaifi Khalil refuted the rumours of being injured at yesterday’s event; but what actually went wrong with the 10th anniversary of the premium festival ‘Karachi Eat’ to end on a distressing note?
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One of the most anticipated and biggest ever festivals of Pakistan, or more specifically Karachi ended the three-day run for this year last night, however, in a rather upsetting turn of events.
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According to a number of social media users, the Beach View Park in Clifton, the venue for the supposed ‘family’ event was breached by miscreant stags who not only gatecrashed and entered the premises without the tickets but also harassed and assaulted the families, particularly the female audience around the concert area and even attacked the performers.
Women in the family section were harassed. Tents were dismantled and to deal with it the management switched off all the lights which made the situation worse. Like literally wtf #KarachiEat2023
— Armash (@armashshahab) January 8, 2023
Stags broke the gates and forcefully entered #KarachiEat today. People are saying that they literally had to leave through spaces between walls and jump off them to get out of the chaos. Please ban such events in the city if security can’t be managed.
— Armash (@armashshahab) January 8, 2023
A panic broke out at the venue as the visitors tried to escape from the situation resulting in an almost stampede in the constricted space.
There was almost a major stampede yesterday night at #KarachiEat. Barricades were broken. Women were harassed. Stuff was thrown at the performing artists. A ‘family only’ event turned into an ‘All Men’ event.
Women were told to leave using the emergency exits for their safety. pic.twitter.com/Rc4uFQyMB2— l (@laylaaff) January 9, 2023
The widely-circulated videos of the unruly crowd on social media and the harrowing accounts of harassment shared by the attendees on social media platforms are petrifying.
Imagine being a girl in this stampede of men who gatecrashed #KarachiEat last night. Pakistani men are the worst bunch when it comes to treating women but we can’t stop claiming moral superiority because we’re the true and pure Muslims. pic.twitter.com/Nc3gY4lOfY
— Hamza Azhar Salam (@HamzaAzhrSalam) January 9, 2023
Karachi Eat Festival #KarachiEat pic.twitter.com/7Un8Zke3rL
— Halaat Updates (@halaatupdate) January 9, 2023
In the protest, several scheduled performances were stopped midway, while the other artists refused to take the stage, eventually calling it an abrupt end to the event.
There were also reports that the ‘Kahani Suno’ crooner who was on the stage when the incident took place, got injured after being hit by a miscreant, but he refuted the rumours and clarified that he is ‘totally fine’. However, Kaifi Khalil condemned the incident and called out the ‘entitled’ harassers for ruining the event for female visitors.
#karachieat #karachieat2023 pic.twitter.com/hkuiKwKkEh
— Amna Adil (@AmnaAdilhussain) January 8, 2023
Hello everyone thank you for your pure love and support. kindly Read this and share. pic.twitter.com/QWLseK2EbN
— Kaifi Khalil (@kaifi_khalil) January 9, 2023
Reacting to the fiasco, the organizers of Karachi Eat stated, “The idea of reclaiming our public spaces is what this event was about. This is why we started this.”
“If we are now forced to do events in barren lands because we do not have the self-discipline or the responsibility to conduct ourselves in a manner that allows everyone to enjoy without feeling harassed then that is a sad statement on what we are as a society,” the statement read further.
To say the least, given the already poor state of affairs of the country, it is distressing to see such a fate of the events trying to be a breath of fresh air for Karachiites.
