LAHORE, Feb 7: TV and theatre actor Naseem Abbas has demanded a judicial inquiry into Jan 9 tragic incident at a music concert at Alhamra Cultural Complex in which three girls lost their lives.
Abbas, father of one of the victims, Maheen Naseem, was addressing a press conference at the Press Club on Tuesday along with Mazhar Nawaz, brother of Faraz Nawaz, another girl who died in the ‘stampede’.
“We demand that a judicial inquiry should be held into the January 9 tragedy and culprits must be punished and effective measures be taken to avoid such tragedies in future,” Abbas said.
“In this regard, we are writing letters to the chief justices of Supreme Court and the Lahore High Court,” he added.
He regretted that the chief minister as usual ordered an inquiry into the incident and then forgot all about it.
“We have been informed that the home secretary had conducted the inquiry into the incident and submitted a report to the CM a fortnight ago,” he said.
He also urged the public representatives, the parents, educational institutions and student bodies to join them in the campaign for getting justice for the three victims and “break this conspiracy of silence”.
The actor deplored that the Jan 9 tragedy was somehow ignored or deliberately suppressed in the media. He said the tragic loss of lives at the Cultural Complex was caused by criminal negligence and mismanagement on part of the organizers of the concert.
He said the organisers – the Punjab Group of Colleges -- had taken over the responsibility for security and administration at the venue in writing.
He said the organisers allowed more than 8,000 girls to enter the venue that had a capacity of only 4,000 people. But, there was hardly any teaching or administrative staff to monitor the event, he alleged.
He alleged the organisers used their clout to kill the news in the media and the incident was not given due coverage.
An attempt, he said, was also made to divert public attention from the incident by making a case for banning concerts in educational institutions.
Abbas said the Lahore Arts Council that ran and owned Alhamra Cultural Complex conveniently shifted the blame to the organisers.
He said the LAC management needed to explain whether they bothered to ensure that the organisers had taken adequate security measures at the concert venue and that where were Alhamra staffers who had the keys of the venuegates.
