HYDERABAD: As reports surface of many families leaving Friday night’s mega musical event at Rani Bagh due to unruly crowd and police failure to provide security to women, officials of police and administration passed the buck for ‘mismanagement’ to the event’s lead organiser.

The much hyped mega show, part of ongoing celebrations for Independence Day and Marka-i-Haq, left bitter memories for the families who had turned up in large numbers expecting adequate security and peaceful atmosphere at a government-organised programme.

Women and young girls were whistled at, touched and groped, leaving them no other option but to return home, complained some of the families while leaving the venue.

Police used batons from time to time to control the unruly crowd while the organisers’ claim about setting up separate enclosures for men and women and allowing entry into the venue on the basis of individual QR codes faded into thin air.

The administration and police blamed the venue for the mismanagement and said the officials concerned had already advised the lead organiser, president of Arts Council of Pakistan (ACP) Ahmad Shah, to consider Hatri bypass as venue for holding such a mega event.

“We had a deployment of 3,000 policemen but the crowd outnumbered us. We did our best to control them but since the entry was free large number of people not only from the city but also from adjacent districts turned up at the venue. We had also suggested to the ACP [president] a different type of material for enclosures,” said Hyderabad SSP Adeel Chandio.

“I delivered. The security was not my responsibility,” said Ahmad Shah, the ACP president, in a text message when he was informed how families faced shabby treatment at the event.

DIG Tariq Dharejo said: “ACP chief ruled out the option of Hatri bypass saying people will not be able to reach it. Still, no one was injured though some small things do happen depending on behaviour of a crowd.”

“We did convey to the ACP president to consider Hatri bypass which had hosted huge public jalsas in past but finally, we had to give in since he was focal person of culture department and Sindh government and proceed with his plan. The crowd was just uncontrollable,” said Hyderabad deputy commissioner Zain Ul Abideen Memon.

The district administration had sent a written request to provincial home department for the deployment of 500 Rangers personnel but it was ignored and only a few Rangers men were seen at the venue’s entry point.

A television channel’s cameraman, Jamil Pathan, had a hairline fracture when the unruly crowd overran him and other media workers. Camera of another worker was damaged.

Pakistan Federal Union of Journalist’s vice president Junaid Khanzada, Hyderabad Union of Journalists (HUJ) president Hamid Shaikh and general secretary Hamza Zaidi, condemned the incident and urged Sindh chief minister to order an inquiry and fix responsibility.

Published in Dawn, August 10th, 2025