As the Alhamra Open Air administration has completed documentation of the Monday’s tragic incident, it looks like that the private college management is now in trouble after three girls were crushed to death in a stampede.
The concert, organised by a private group of colleges , was an annual event held regularly for the last five years. As Atif Aslam, Annie, Arif Lohar and Papu Sain concluded their performance, the audience, which the Alhamra authorities claimed to be around 7,000, (all girls) rushed out from the main exit, Gate No 1, causing a clog at the point. There are different speculations on the cause of the stampede, but the
Alhamra administration claims that there was no bomb hoax and that it was a result of the mismanagement of the security guards brought by the college administration.
Alhamra Open Air Executive Director Mohammad Ali Baloch told Pakistan Today said the incident took place outside the vicinity of Alhamra, giving a vivid idea that the Alhamra administration had very little to do with the horrifying incident. An official of Alhamra, while requesting anonymity, revealed that the capacity of the open air complex was around 5,000 but the college had invited almost 7,000 female students.
Baloch said they had all documents, including the undertaking from the college administration taking responsibility of any unforeseen incident. He said they even had NOCs from the DCO Ahad Cheema and the Excise Department allowing the event. “The college administration said they would bring in their own security,” Baloch said, adding that the college administration brought around 80 guards to cater 7,000 students.
“The incident turned gruesome when our chief guard Ata Mohammad tried opening the main gate to let the crowd out, but the guards accompanied by the college resisted and closed down the main gate, allowing only a narrow passage to the huge crowd,” Baloch added. “Resultantly, the girls in front were pushed down and crushed by the massive crowd coming from behind.”
Surprisingly, an event arranged by the same college had also gone in 2006, where a group of male students were brutally injured as the wall of Alhamra stairs broke and the students tumbled down along with the wall.
Mohammad Maqbool, the father of one of the deceased Ayesha Maqbool a student of ICOM at the college’s Gulberg Branch, openly blames the college administration. He said he called his younger daughter, accompanying Ayesha, who informed them that she could not find Ayesha. Maqbool said they started looking for her in different hospitals but failed to recognise her amongst the dead.
“My sons finally recognized Ayesha”, he said.
The father openly holds the college responsible for the incident. “If they were not able to cater such a huge crowd why did they try to stuff so many girls in one complex,” said Maqbool.
The college administration was contacted repeatedly but could not be reached. Ironically, a section of the media had downplayed the entire incident which left the students in utter awe. The section of media includes some newspapers and TV channels, either owned by the same group of colleges or in commercial relations with each other. Sultan Malik a student of PCC said, “The media had created its hegemony and trying to silence those speaking against their commercial interests; it’s really sad.”
Private college responsible?
