LAHORE: This is with reference to your report of January 10 titled “Lahore tragedy: 3 students killed at concert stampede”. One of the “critically injured students” mentioned in the report is my sister.
The organisers of the concert did not transfer her to a hospital and my sister managed to survive only because another student saw her and managed to drag her aside. The student who helped her called my family through my sister’s cell phone and when we tried to get to the venue to pick her up, the police wouldn’t let us anywhere near the area. In fact, the entrances were closed for some time by the police and no one was being allowed to get out, nor was any help offered.
We finally made contact with someone who was inside. They managed to bring my sister outside, who was unconscious and covered in blood. We made our way to Services Hospital and were still unaware of what had actually happened. It was at the hospital that a journalist told us exactly what had transpired.
My sister is still being treated in the hospital and it will take some time for her to recover. We eventually found out that it was the college’s guards who started the stampede when they brandished sticks on the girls who were running after Atif Aslam trying to get his autograph. This led to the panic which then set the stampede in motion.
To the best of my knowledge, there was no bomb threat, and this seems to be a ruse being used by the college administration to deflect the blame that must go on its shoulders for what had happened. At the very least, the college whose students lost their lives should pay for the physical and psychological harm experienced by the students.
As for the media coverage of the incident, the television channel run by the owner of the college needs to be more ethical and at least, report this story.
Zainab Iqtidar
Published in The Express Tribune, January 12th, 2012.
