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Lahore tragedy: Three students killed at concert stampede
The deceased were mainly students. Five are critically injured.
LAHORE: An Atif Aslam concert on Monday turned into a tragedy when three girls got killed while five were critically injured in a stampede, Express News reported.
The concert was held at the AlHamra Cultural Complex where Atif Aslam had just ended his performance. When the girls tried to exit the venue after the event, someone closed the door. At this time a stampede started resulting in three young girls stumbling and getting crushed.
According to reports, the deceased girls were students aged between 17-22. They were Maheen Naseem, 17, Sara Nawaz, 22 and Nimra, 16.
There were reportedly between 6000 and 7000 girls at the concert, beyond the venue’s capacity.
Rescue 1122 had reached the venue and shifted the dead bodies and five critically injured girls to hospital.
Talking to The Express Tribune, Maheen’s father Naseem Abbas blamed the organiser, Punjab Group of Colleges’ administration for mismanagement.
“Why they allowed more students in the complex when there was not enough space,” he asked.
Talking to Express News, an eyewitness Bismah said that a lack of security contributed to the tragic incident. She added that the stampede started when a larger door was opened to let attendees out. Extra people at the venue had caused a rush when the concert ended.
Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif has taken notice of the incident and asked for an immediate inquiry.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 10th, 2012.
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Very sad incident. The organizers must be arrested and punished.
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it’s disgraceful how our public is pouncing on these girls,it’s horrific the way the religious extremists are saying that god has taught these girls a lesson now!! there’s absolutely nothing wrong in attending a concert,music is the food of the soul.the ”good muslims” who are rejoicing at these deaths as some sick confirmation of their preachings should be ashamed of themselves.what kind of sick sadistic people are they?
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so now what? Apology? Accountability? Aversion of similar incidents in the future? Good luck hopefuls. Wonder how soon facebook groups will crop up around this demanding something or the other (which will be forgotten in a week no doubt).
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shocking…..
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for those wondering… It was organized by punjab college… And atif aslam WASNT there.
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And we want lady gaga here! People would die of repeated orgasms! And lets blame it on govt of Punjab! Blame! CM punjab forms an inquiry committee, mufti sahab responsible for the stampede ! Lady gaga stay here! We already have many little monsters here
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This is extremely sad =’(
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Very sad news :( RIP
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MY!! TRAGIC!! i am left Speechless! condolances for the deceased’s families, i hope it gets noticed by the authorites soon!
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This is really sad and management is totally responsible of this mishap. Apart from this, i am not in agreement to deteriorate the celebrity’s name by including it in the headline.
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…this is so surreal.
I’m actually waiting for someone to pop up and say that this news piece was their idea of a really bad joke.
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It is possible to organize massive events and have proper crowd control. Just a a little bit of common sense, planning and less of the chal jaye ga attitude. There is so much news about children, perhaps the most important commodity of this country, dying in field trips and other events.
No one is going to take the blame obviously.
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One of those “five critically injured students” is my sister and they could not go any more beyond misrepresentation as they already have. They Did Not transfer her to the hospital, if it wasnt for some random student there who saw my sister being stampeded over and dragged her aside, she would have died. The girl called us through my sister’s cell phone and then when we tried to get to the place to pick her up, they wouldnt even let us anywhere near the area. The entrances were closed and the police was neither helping the students themselves, nor letting anyone else get inside to do it. We finally made contact with someone on the inside of Gaddafi stadium. They picked up my sister, while she was unconcious, covered in blood and had been run over by hundreds of girls. And when I say “hundreds” I do Not exaggerate. We found our own way to Services hospital and still were unaware of what had actually transpired. There, a media personnel informed us of the event. Just right now, as my sister is still in the hospital, recieving Oxygen and undergoing X rays and Ultrasounds, we have found out that it was the College Guards that started the stampede by raising their sticks on the girls that were running after Atif Aslam and started the entire panick. There was NO Bomb threat. I repeat. There was NO Bomb Threat. That is the fancy cover up created by “The Private College’s” media smartasses. If Punjab College Management feel that they can keep this under the wraps, then they are sorely mistaken, I went thier too, a few years ago, and I have great respect for the education system. However, this is intolerable! They are responsible for the death of three innocent students. They are responsoble for the physical and pshycological damage caused to multiple other students. They will be held accountable. If the media in our country really is as free as it claims to be: you might want to print the truth.Recommend
Uffff…..
i am totally shocked…
Please straight away put charges on the management company responsible for this event.
they are responsible for this…
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this is the truth…. the guards are responsible
http://www.rediff.com/news/report/stampede-at-atif-aslam-s-lahore-concert/20120110.htm
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So the last activity of these girls before dying was listening to atif aslam. How much worse ending can you get?
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@ zainab iqtidar
Sorry about your sister. Your comment is full of disappointment and anger as it should be. Dont know if you want to even think about this right now but the punjab group of colleges actually owns a lot of our media. You must have seen ads on private news channels and just before hourly news sessions that show that they actually sponsor and fund a lot of media channels. That said, it still doesnt mean that no action will be taken. Your sister is lucky that she was rescued and i pray for her health. Why was she taken to services hospital when there is a hospital right next to gaddafi stadium called hameed lateef hospital? Was it because of the pressure of circumstances at that time or because of some other reason?
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Very sad and tragic. Inna lilla hi wa inna ilaihi rajioon !
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The organisers haven’t learned from what happened in India few days back in Delhi. They should have anticipated this and not just go for collections. They have to arrested and thrown in jail.
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@Zainab Iqtidar:
Sorry to hear about your close encounter and the people who got hurt so tragically, its sounds like it was mismanged horribly wrong and innocent peopl got hurt as a consequence, inquiry has to be bought forward to bring thoses who are responsible for this to justice.
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very sad news
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I am shocked to read this news. This is horrifying to imagine how 3 poor
little girls were killed and 10 others injured. The administration of Punjab College
must be held responsible. There was no bomb threat, they are lying through
the media they own.
They brag of bringing Atif Aslam to their concerts, yet could not control any untoward
situation. And let more and more people come in and try to create a ‘Mahol’ for the
bloody singers. They don’t care about their students, all they care about is
to control the people like animals with their uncompetitive guards.
At anytime the faculty of Punjab College
who have no expertise to control such situations would order
to close the doors without analyzing the situation of the crowd.
Years back we faced the same situation. And i remember if i didn’t have a support of
my friend i would have died in the hands of the mad crowd trying to get in to
watch Atif Aslam.
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Pathetic, absolutely pathetic.
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O dear ! its terrible . RIP :(
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very sad affair. my condolences to the families. let us all pray for the departed souls and the injured girls. and most we should learn lesson from our mistakes. Definitely the organizers are to be blamed. we should make sure that this kind of affair is never repeated again.
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Sad indeed!! But really, it should be an eye opener for us all!!! First there was an incident of an overloaded school bus and now these girls. So unfortunate……
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@Zainab Iqtidar:
Your post is an eye opener and provides a candid picture of the unfortunate and tragic incident.
Really feel sorry for you, your family and families of all the affectees!Recommend
@saba mahmood:
I presume it was only girls concert.
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@Zainab Iqtidar:
May your sister recover soon, only your sister knows waht really happened all of the rest is just specualtions.
Once again May she recover soon
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It is more digusting to note that Mian Aamer Mehmood (Punjab Group of Colleges Director) also owns Dunya News and has a major stake in the Lahore-based C42 channel. Both channels did not air this news the whole night, not for a second. Shameful!
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Very very sad and heart touching news…!
I am also a student of Punjab college but I am not in the favor of such musical concerts, Coz we Pakistanis have lost our patience & temperament. We have no place for others, every one is in hurry. The result of hurry is always dangerous…! Three Important lives have gone.
Anyhow I pray for the peace & rest of souls of that three expired girls.. May Allah bless their families.
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@Zainab Iqtidar:
i hope and pray that your sister recovers completely and soon.You all should sue this company to avoid events like this in future
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Another case of negligence by an ignorant school administration. Unfortunately, like the Kalar Kahar Bus incident, where the owner of the school was taken into custody, here the mighty influential Mian Amer will go unpunished, rather untouched.
Our sympathies are with the parents of the deceased girls, as our heads hang in shame for this traversity of justice.Recommend
@saba mahmood.. Do you think it is reasonable for young girls to go and watch a male singer singing in front of them. Which sort of civilization it is? Western or Eastern? May Allah forbids us all from such concerts..
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Aslam tere jan-nisar…! So sad! :(
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So sad
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It’s sad but things like this do happen all over the world!i hope responsible people are punished!Recommend
@ Zainab , please do not slow down or be silent , raise your voice , we are with you……and shame on molvis for saying anything related to religon if they have said….Recommend
@The Truth: The point is not whether its reasonable or unreasonable to attend a concert. The life and respect of each individual is extremely important.
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Sad news due to bad managment.
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@zainab Iqtidar
Once your sister recovers , file a suit against the Punjab Colleges , you could even do it now
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@Zainab Iqtidar:
The Punjab Group is the same group that owns Dunya News group among other media establishments. Sadly, I doubt very much they will be targeted by any of the other media houses.
I really hope your family and the others who have suffered pursue a social media campaign as well as legal action. Take a stand for we are all here to support you.
I hope your sister and the other injured students recover soon InshAllah and I pray for eternal peace for the three unfortunate ones whose precious time in this world ended too soon. May Allah grant Sabr to their families. Ameen.
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Its very shameless event for punjab clg in its history.. I may god bless the three girls.. No one knows how one can be safe in this country.. Means of entertainment has also became so hard to enjoy.. We admire that guards of p.g.c should not be spared at any cost.. They have to pay for their deeds..
We will pray for for your sister inshallah she will recover soon
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It was a very sad incident,,,, and it happened because of mismanagement,,their were no teachers or guards present when the concert ended.
and one more stupidity of punjab college’s teachers is that they even snatched the mobiles of their girls… and many girls became unable to contact to their families…
and now they have plans to give back the mobiles after 2 months at fine of rs 5000 per phone… which is so cheap..
Furthermore they are continuing with the boys function today.
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I was aLso there ……
ARAF aslam show went horribly bad at that stage …… i coud’nt even find a single way to escape
then i stap one of da guards behind ,,, sum hw i managged to escape frm there .. n finally caught Araf aslam…… i had been lucky i survived n caught ARAF aslam… that was horrible race …………
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The media is down playing the incident because the college is owned by a major media group (The Punjab College of Commerce is owned by Dunya TV chief executive Mian Amer Mahmood)
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Very Sad incident Its very shameless event for punjab clg in its history.
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Its not the organizers fault. Pakistanis need to be patient as a nation. we need to start following the basics of a civilized nation like making a queue.Recommend
this is why rules and discipline are important.
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@Waijd Ali: Do you not know the answer s not to ban any public gathering or concert but to properly regulate such venues. There are plenty of instances of stampedes and crush type deaths in Western countries that get published yearly. I hope that people learn from this tragedy for further gatherings but sadly this is something which happens whenever you get too many people into a small venue with jostling and pushing.Recommend
This is the case of outright mismanagement by the Punjab Group of college, they should hired an event organizing company,instead of letting there own administration staff organize the concert.My condolences for the deceased’s families!
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@saba mahmood
dear sister, sorry to hear your thoughts. Music is not food of soul, Quran & Zikr-ul-Allah is the food for soul. Anybody attending such kind of concerts doesn’t harm anyone else oneslef. As he has to face the consequences in the Aakhira.
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Owner of Punjab group of college must be held responsible. Give him an exemplary punishment. Bring him down.Recommend
Yet another symptom of us being a sick nation!
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This is an accident and accident mostly happen due to negligence if not deliberation.
I think the whole administration (not the guards only please) should be accountable and arrested for a fair trial on part of severe negligence along with the volunteers students who organized the show. Because the administration must be involved in designing the security including the exit and the volunteers were also the part of implementing SOPs for conducting the concert of thousands, which is not an ordinary task.
Punjab College and Schools are owned by Mian Amir Mahmood- ex nazim Lahore (And yes he also owns Dunya Channel).
Can he be presented in court for the trial- at least on the basis of probability of recurrence of such tragedy again in any of his schools or colleges?
Like Shahid Khakaan Abbasi (Air Blue Owner), Mian Amir Mahmood must also be un-touchable and our CJ’s justice and Punjab’s CM’s governance fairly end there.
Will Dunya News and their highly paid journalist anchors probe the issue justly? Thats where the freedom of Media ends because the website of Dunya News already announced the reason being the rumor of bomb which Zainab Iqtidar denies above.
http://dunyanews.tv/index.php?key=Q2F0SUQ9MiNOaWQ9NTk1NjA=Recommend
@The Truth: Thank you for single-handedly taking our stupidity’s national average to new and soaring heights.
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That is one of the very sad incident occurs in lahore but i think students who participant should take there self accountability that who s a real responsible of these 3 precious lives lost after all … If managment is not able to organize that event than why shoud they organized such type of events .Girls don’t be panic next time always save everyone .Police should take a standard investigation and take culprits behind the bar .
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Very sad!! this is a tragedy
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@Zainab Iqtidar:
no matter how or what it happened, we should hang our heads in shame, atif aslam should feel ashamed that three girls are dead for his claim to fame.
i pray that your sister gets well the the wounds she bears are only those on her body. aamin
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O please God. Let us live a life full with faith and let us die a death full of faith. Ameen.
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My condolences to the Innocent girl’s family and want Allah to give them peace.
As a father of Girls myself I and living in UK I don’t condone this behaviors of a Muslim and utterly condemn the section of Pakistani society that advocates these gatherings which are un-Islamic.
Please follow the Quran and Sunna then at least we will make fewer mistakes.Recommend
@Zainab Iqtidar:
My sympathies for your injured sister. Our media is not interested to raise these genuine issues rather they are more committed to dance on the tunes of establishment to get rid of our elected government with the help of Courts and biased judgements.
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@Zainab Iqtidar: Allah ap ki sister ko jald se jald Sehat kamla ata farmaye.!!
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Please scrolldown and read the comment written by Zainab Iqtidar- the sister of one of the criticlly injured students. The actual story is bit different from what’s being told to media by the college administration.
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@Zainab Iqtidar , “There were no bomb hoax, they were running after Atif Aslam and the gurads wielded thier sticks to save Atif Aslam ” that makes sense .The guards did what they were paid for ,ie save Atif Aslam .If they ahd not We would have Atif Aslam in the morgue .
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really horrifying incident
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Miss Zainab Iqtidar
I am so sad to hear about the tragedy. All of us pray for your sister. May she recover soon and live long.
@others
Lets stop discussing permissibility of music. Lets pray for those who passed away. Personally, i am double sad because they breathed their last while attending a music concert. May the Almighty bless them. However, its not time for debate.
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@Zainab Iqtidar:
why your name is ringing a bell???
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@Zainab Baji: Zainab, i swear i just found out i hope she recovers as fast as hse can and i know she will, she’s strong. And about taking this to the next level, these comments are definietly rigth, stand up and sues these Imbeciles. Allah Xoi ko Hifazat aur sehat ataa farmaye. I will definetely pray for her. hope she gets better every second.. I kept reading statuses but never knew tht this happened.. :/ Well All i can do from here is prayt and hope for the best. May Allah help xoi and your entire family…
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@ Rana Umair, Sham, Khurram Mansoor, Usman Aftab, I am Legend, Saleem, Correct option:
Thank you for all the kind words and prayers for my sister. My sister has been moved back home, She will recieve further treatment for her injuries, over time. No source of media is depicting the true picture of what happened at the event. Even we had to wait till today, to get the whole story from her. There was NO BOMB THREAT< NO ATIF ASLAM CRAZED FANS. Infact Atif Aslam came out after everything had already happened. It was the guards fault. Its still unclear whether all of the guards were AlHamra employees or if the Punjab College Guards were involved in the mismanagement as well. God knows what was wrong with them and why they would harrass students like this.
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We are waiting for the report that the District Commissioner is supposed to compile and see what action CM Punjab Mian Shahbaz Shareef takes regarding this. I am sure that at least something will be done, as so many deaths, in this manner, can not be disregarded. Had it been a bomb blast, I would expect it to go almost with Zero Action. But this was Criminal Negligence at the part of the people responsible for the safety of our family members. Maheen Abbass’s father, Naseem Abbass has filed an FIR against the college and held them responsible for his daughter’s death. 4 girls were confirmed dead by Services Hospital ER doctors while we were there, and a few have died in other hospitals as well but they are not being reported on the media. As many of you have already mentioned, Dunya TV is owned by Mian Amir and many other sources also have play here. For example AlHamra Cultural Complex. I want to pursue a social media campaign, but I dont have support from anyone else.
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ours is a sick society with partial n biased media,judiciary n government.u can see how electronic n print media keeping mysterious silence over the incident.in a country with biased media,govt n juditiary such incidents will continue to happen n none will be punished being zilz nazim ex etc or influential enough to silence the so called potent media voice…shame to us.
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Being an Ex PCC student , i can say that event organizers/ teachers inhumanly shut doors especially for girls in such situations. Its terrible . How can you be so unsympathetic. Very discriminatory polices for girls like snatching of cells. It would have been miserable , they weren’t able to contact parents.
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Mismanagement and disorganization by the organizers of this concert is simply inexcusable. They are responsible for the deaths of innocent girls.
They MUST be tried for gross negligence, reckless endangerment, and murder. They are responsible for the homicide and they must be made to pay for it?Recommend
i think it was fault ov policemen… they should have first ov all appointed female police.. and itz totally immoral for police men to push or drag girls.. secondly they should have opened tha main g8 …may the parients of the girs who died be given justice n patience by allah and may the girls be blessed with heaven..m realy grieved after readin this.Recommend
Those Who Were Responsible About The Main Gate Of The Complex Should Be Blamed .....
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oh…that’s very sad…..:(
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@Ch Allah Daad:
i think the mjor fault of boys
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kuda inki magfart farmain…………..amin
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Im agree all ov u.its big diffrnc dubai nd pak.The girls went wild seeing Atif Aslam and one can’t believe that these are Muslim Pakistani grls. The dresses, dance and language they are using in hooting were very very very vulgar. The grls totally changed their attitude while in concert and threw cell no’s and flying kisses towards Atif and on -duty male staffdis iz not our culture……..plz thnk abot it.
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@saba mahmood:
saba sahiba….not music but NAMAZ is food for soul…as for girls,its between them and ALLAH,so saying that they have been punished is wrong..moreover…islam doesnt allow music at all..so no point opposing the ALLAH’S orders.may the deceased souls be blessed…they were our sisters….
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oh it is very shocking for us ….my allah give paradise to those who r killed
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It was The decision of Punjab Assembly that There will be No conserts Next Time in colleges univ. etc..
Where r these Orders????????????
May Allah Bless us .. amin
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The nation is in problems and we are having concerts. Atif Aslam, instead of preaching nation its theory is inoculating frivolous poetry to the new generation.
First there should be no compensation because its a third world country and we want to enjoy luxuries of the first world. See the family of the girl, they are so pious looking. In fact she was not out for a socially or morally good thing. Secondly, under 20 concert attendance should be banned.
I feel happy for those who have died, not because they were at a bad place, it is because they wont be growing wild and bad, further, any more, they are dead! may their souls rest in peace.
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