LAHORE: The capital city police and the Lahore Development Authority locked horns after the former rejected a proposal floated by the later for organising two music concerts in the provincial capital on the Independence Day without seeking security clearance.

As per an official source, the situation turned unpleasant when two sides had a heated argument over the issue in a recent meeting, where the LDA authorities insisted on holding the programmes as per plan, while the police declared it an “unworkable idea”.

The sources said LDA Director General Amina Imran Khan informed the city police high-ups that the authority was going to organise two mega music concerts -- one at the Gaddhafi Stadium and the other in a Sports Complex in Johar Town -- on 14th of August.

Citing official estimates, she told the police that as entry would be free to the both proposed venues, it was being expected that over 50,000 people would attend the event at the Gaddhafi Stadium, and more than 30,000 at the other site.

The police high-ups discussed the issue in some meetings, besides putting up the matter before the district intelligence committee comprising officials of intelligence agencies, police, home department, district administration and others.

The committee, however, rejected the idea after it was informed that the intelligence agencies had warned of threats with regard to Independence Day celebrations in the provincial capital.

The police high-ups conveyed to the LDA director general about the committee’s decision, requesting her to drop the plan.

The police officers, the source said, also told Ms Khan that such mega events on the Independence Day in Lahore had been almost “unmanageable” in the past because of the large crowds of revelers turning up on the roads and the venues.

She was also informed that the police and other law enforcement agencies were to provide security to over 100 official ceremonies the same day, besides covering the VVIPs and other important personalities.

The police also pointed out loopholes in the LDA’s plan to hold the events sans tickets, warning that it might result in huge “uncontrollable” gatherings where a stampede was apprehended, besides other unpleasant incidents.

They also warned of positional risks to the participants because of the large crowds, including motorcyclists, that were expected to almost clog the city roads on the day.

The official said the LDA head, however, rejected the apprehensions and insisted that police should provide the security required for the concerts or she would complain to the higher authorities about their “non-cooperation”.

Later, he said, the matter was again discussed in a couple of joint meetings held on Saturday.

Finally, the Lahore police strongly rejected the LDA plan citing the reasons mentioned earlier, he said.

The police also wrote an official letter to the LDA DG, categorically stating that the authority’s management would be responsible if any untoward incident occurred (during or because of the concerts) on the Independence Day.

“We have taken up the issue with the Punjab IG after the LDA director general rejected our concerns regarding the two concerts”, Operations DIG Shahzad Akbar told Dawn.

He said the DG LDA’s rigid stance on the issue despite serious security threats was “incomprehensible”.

“We have total 28,000 strength of police in Lahore. Interestingly, of them the operational strength is only 9,000”, the DIG said.

He said holding of concerts with free entry was a grave risk that could spoil the entire celebrations.

“We have categorically intimated the LDA that the police would not be able to provide security to its programmes, nor it would be responsible for any untoward happening”, the DIG said.

The LDA director general refused to comment on the issue, saying she had received a call from the Chief Minister Office for giving a presentation regarding the plan on Monday (today) and to discuss the security issues surfacing with regard to the two events proposed by the authority.

Published in Dawn, August 13th, 2018