- Karachi Eat is the city’s biggest food fest, which has been going strong for the past five years.
- The tenth edition of the festival had two peaceful days but the last day shocked the nation.
- Twitterati posted harrowing details of a huge stampede and public brawls.
Here is the explanation for those who are unsure of what Karachi Eat is or why it has become as popular as Karachi Beats.
The largest culinary festival in the area, Karachi Eat, has been going strong for the past five years. The last day of the festival’s tenth edition startled the country after Twitterati shared terrifying details of a massive stampede, sexual harassment, public fights, and an unruly mob flying into a frenzy and groping. The festival’s first two days were serene.
This culinary festival was anything but calm, with performers like singer Kaifi Khalil storming off stage amid the commotion, Young Stunners declining to perform, and others scaling the fences to get inside without tickets.
Twitter users tweeted videos of the entrance gates being stormed by a desperate mob trying to get in without paying, criticising the management’s inefficiency.
In their tweets, eyewitness to the horrible incident provided details. The event’s female guests have expressed their rage and contempt at the offenders.
Additionally, singer Kaifi Khalil was said to have suffered an injury while performing at the festival, but he emphasised that he is safe and the reports of his harm are untrue.
Singer of Kahani Suno made the following assertion in a statement:”I would just like to clarify the fake news that’s circulating about me getting injured during my performance at the Karachi Eat event yesterday, which isn’t true.”
The Kana Yaari singer continued,, “I will say that I am a little disappointed and upset because of what happened yesterday. Ladies that came to enjoy the evening with their family and friends were harassed and treated inappropriately by a group of individuals who lacked decency and common sense.”
Khalil claimed, “The event was cancelled mid-performance because I couldn’t continue with what was going on and it became a concern for people in the audiences as well. I request the organisers to please take the safety of everyone attending into consideration.”
Following Khalil, several performers, including Taha G of Dil Ke Ishaaray fame, also declined to perform. Taha G claimed in an Instagram story,
“Sorry to everyone who came through today, things got out of hand due to trespassing and overcrowding so performances had to be cancelled. I was extremely excited, the best I have ever sounded. I am extremely sorry once again. Stay safe.”
One of the event organisers responded to the terrible incident by saying, “A large crowd tore down the walls, fought with the security present, scaled the barricades to enter the premises and spread fear to those present at the event.”
The statement continued,”Despite security measures, the crowd was extremely unruly and stormed through the event causing harm to our security as well.”
The organiser added, “We keep the ticket prices as low as we can to make the event accessible to all. Hiking the price will only make it possible for the elite to attend which defeats the purpose of the Eat festival. It will not remain inclusive anymore. Day one saw even more numbers of crowds than day three and yet day one went on smoothly as did day two but the mob on day three that violated the security measures ruined the festival for the people present.”
The statement continued , “We encouraged carpooling and even partnered with Careem to help reduce traffic and even posted it on our socials to carpool in order to avoid the traffic but despite that, every attendee brought a car to the event which created a bottleneck on the roads.”
“This event is for the people. We started this event to give back public spaces to people so they could own their city. What happened makes us question whether we need to conduct these events with extreme security protocols present and limit our audiences if our mob can’t behave. What’s the point of creating a platform for our city if the mob can’t contain themselves?”
The statement concluded, “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.”
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