Is Shakira coming to Lahore? Short answer, no

A Facebook event page claims to be bringing the mega star to Lahore

LAHORE: If you've already paid for a ticket to see Shakira shake her hips in Lahore, this won't come as good news. Shakira, as much as we would like, is not coming to Pakistan.

“The first time ever in the history of Pakistan, Shakira is coming for a live concert to Lahore, Pakistan," claims a Facebook event page that is selling tickets to the non-existent concert.

The event page on Facebook has above 1800 guests. PHOTO: FACEBOOK

The person behind the event, Wahaj of the event management company 'BizBash' is selling tickets for Rs6,000, Rs10,000, Rs15,000 and Rs20,000.

All the details of the event is available on the page. PHOTO: FACEBOOK

Wahaj told The Express Tribune that 'BizBash' has been in the business since 2009. They claim to have hosted concerts for Atif Aslam, Farhan Saeed, Ali Zafar, Ali Sethi among others.

However, their Facebook page does not back up these claims, as it seems to have been created less than two weeks ago and has no prior activity. When asked about this, Wahaj said, "Our last page got deleted so we had to make this.”

'Bizbash' Facebook page with hardly 130 likes. PHOTO: FACEBOOK

A few calls to celebrity managers further discredited Wahaj's claims. Atif Aslam’s brother and manager Sheraz Aslam said, “I have been in the industry for 15 years and have never heard of 'BizBash' events.”

Taha Sadaqat, who is Ali Zafar’s manager said, “We have had no relations with this event management company.”

Ironically Wahaj says, “People who have come to our previous events trust us and that’s why our tickets are selling.”

Bringing the Waka Waka singer to Pakistan for a concert is no easy feat but when asked how 'BizBash' managed this Wahaj could not say.



“This is our personal information.” He seems confident that the event will take place without any hurdles, “We’ve gotten all documents except for one. The District Chairman of Lahore’s son is with us, the FBR chairman’s son is with us and our high level contacts will allow us to pull this off.”



Alhamra Cultural Complex will be the venue for the event, he added. But the executive director at Alhamra Cultural Complex, Atta Muhammad Khan, had no knowledge of the event.

Last week, there was an event created for Arjit Singh's concert in Islamabad which turned out to be a hoax.

Shakira’s concert, like Arjit's is the latest entry in the baffling larger Facebook fad of fake concerts.

As Facebook becomes increasingly popular among Pakistanis, it has also become a breeding ground for fake event pages and scams.



If the event page looks dubious one must get in touch with the venue or concert promoters and find out when and how tickets will be delivered to purchasers instead of swaying at the sight of their favoirite artists.