KARACHI: As a clock inside the Shuhada Hall chimed at 4pm, a bunch of kids, talking animatedly, ran towards the first floor where the Youth Café is located.

But as the kids climbed up the stairs, the president and vice president of the cafe sat with some volunteers to discuss beefing up security around the hall.

Running for around seven months now, the Youth Café on Baghdadi’s Sheedi Village Road recently received a direct threat from two unidentified men. The threat was about the combined classes of girls and boys in the area.

The president of the café, Nadeem Baig, said that, “it is for the first time in 30 years that I was threatened, and felt scared of coming to the café we collectively built a few months back.”

A project of the KYI (Karachi Youth Initiative), along with ARM Child and Youth Welfare, beginning in May 2013, the café is managed by Nadeem Baig and Sohail Raahi, who serve as the president and vice president respectively. The aim behind establishing the café was to provide some respite and relief to the burgeoning population of youngsters in the area.

Majority of the children coming to the café are between the ages of 10 to 20. The activities include book readings, short film screenings and awareness programs on dangers of eating gutka and chaaliya.

Apart from other artistes, Sheema Kermani and her troupe continue to perform for the kids, bringing in much needed attention to the plight of younger generation of the area.

One evening, around 8, as the children were watching a short film made by their classmates, the lights went out. As everyone scattered away to look for emergency lights, Nadeem thought of getting one from the ground floor.

“Suddenly a man appeared right in front of me and pushed me in a corner near the staircase on ground floor. Pointing a gun to my waist, he asked me to shut down the café, adding that holding combined classes for girls and boys will bring problems,” he said narrating the incident.

He said the men who had covered faces asked him to look the other way as they made their escape. He added that whatever little conversation they had with him was in Urdu and described them as tall and bulky.

The police was called in, who took contact details from everyone around, “but never got back on what they found,” Nadeem adds.

With the area always embroiled in strife, one after another, with a variety of people or groups all at once, it was difficult for Nadeem to point out who could be behind it.

“Religion always had an influence in Lyari, but it never interfered with our lives. We have never been threatened for our initiatives by any such groups before. So it’ll be difficult to point out,” he added.

Also as the hall has MPA Saniya Naz’s office on the ground floor as well, both Nadeem and Sohail were not sure whether it had anything to do with harassing her.

Before becoming part of the Youth Café, both Nadeem and Sohail used to run street schools in various parts of Lyari even during the tough years of the gang war that broke out in 2000.

It was a gesture that eventually earned them respect even from the warring criminals of the area. What they also earned in the process were rumors and speculation about having links with the outlawed Peoples Amn Committee.

Also, days after the café was built, there were rumors among neighbours that the place is in fact a “dating point,” Sohail informs, adding that they largely ignored such gossip until they received a direct threat recently.

The Shuhada Hall, which houses the café, was built by former Pakistan Peoples Party MPA Nabil Gabol in 2011.

He wanted to name the hall after his mother but it was vetoed by other groups in the area, especially the PAC.

The PAC eventually asked Nadeem to hold classes inside the hall, which also led to the foundation of the Youth Café in 2013.