Asim Azhar cancels concert after overcrowded venue leads to stampede

Singer and songwriter Asim Azhar was scheduled to serenade the crowd at Kinnaird College for Women, Lahore, on Friday night, but the concert was cancelled midway due to “issues of management and crowd control”. According to those present at the venue, there were cases reported of concert-goers fainting, as well as injuries due to a stampede. The Ghalat Fehmi crooner took to Instagram to share an apology note clarifying his position and has offered to help those affected by the mismanagement.

Several concert-goers took to Twitter to complain about the management of the event and narrated the unfortunate incidents that took place while sharing pictures and videos of the chaos at the venue. A user shared their disappointment in the “horrible” management, while another narrated the way women were harassed by a group of men who snuck into the all-girls event.

“Getting harassed… by men at a professedly ‘all girls concert’ (at Kinnaird) and upon complaining to management, you receive an appalling response “If there are 1000 girls at a venue, the actions of 20 boys cannot be considered harassment.”

Another user shared, “Asim Azhar couldn’t perform today because the management couldn’t control the crowd and way more tickets were sold as compared to the space available.”

According to those in attendance, “Police had to be called to handle the situation.”

Azhar took to his Instagram stories to explain the situation and apologise to his fans for the traumatic experience on the behalf of the management and his team. He shared that he was ready with his team backstage but the management asked them to stop since they couldn’t control the crowd anymore. The Kabhi Mai Kabhi Tum crooner emphasised on how disappointed he was and that he wasn’t aware of the ticket situation until they got there.

“There were a lot of people in the crowd getting injured and the venue’s capacity could not hold the number of people that were present. Nothing makes me more sad than not being able to see and perform for you guys, but sadly things are out of our control,” shared the Jo Tu Na Mila hitmaker.

He further added that his team tried to pressure the organisers into controlling the damage and refunding tickets of those who came to see him perform live but couldn’t due to their issues.

In the end, Azhar shared his contact details to offer help to those affected by the poor management at the venue. “If any of you or anyone that you know got affected or injured in this event, please send your contact details at asimazharofficial@gmail.com. I’d love to help in any way that I can. All love and prayers for you guys,” read the caption.

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