Karachi institute orders inquiry on Atif Aslam incident

Karachi: An inquiry has been launched into an incident that took place at the concert of  Atif Aslam and Abida Parveen last week in Karachi after a security personnel claimed he was beaten up on the accusation of the singer, who thought he was molesting some girls.

Sources in the Institute of Business Administration said that a student of final year, who was part of the security team, had lodged a written statement/complaint that he suffered bruises and harassment because Atif, 33, urged action again him for allegedly molesting girls.

"The student was indeed part of the security team deployed for the concert and he claims he was only trying to prevent two girls and a boy with them from gate crashing into the VIP area without passes," a source said.

He added that an inquiry is now being held to find out the truth.

The incident at Atif's concert got wide coverage in the media when the singer apparently spotted one person trying to molest some girls and ordered action against him.

Aslam was hailed for stopping his performance on stage and taking note of the misbehaviour going on with some girls.

But the social media has also been rife with stories about the mismanagement at the concert which was organized by Munik (Model United Nations IBA Karachi).

According to the reports girls were harassed and even groped at the concert but insiders say the incident happened as the venue of the concert was overcrowded due to heavy issuance of passes.

The student (whose identity has not been revealed) has also made a statement to the Daily Pakistan in which he claimed, "My job was to ensure that nobody crosses over from the non-VIP section to the VIP section without a valid ticket. I saw two girls accompanied by a guy crossing over from the non-VIP section and forcing their way to the front row, like a lot of other people were also doing. There was a lot of rush in the front of the stage and these people were continuing to push through.

"I confronted these people and politely asked them to either show their VIP pass or go back to their own section, which they refused. That is when these girls started getting violent. They started scratching at my neck and face with their long nails, they slapped me on the face, punched me and incited a whole mob against me."

The student said instead of trying to understand the real story, Atif blamed him.

"Nobody listened to men in our society especially when a woman has said anything against him it doesn't matter true or false. When Atif Aslam said 'rescue these girls,' everyone thought I was molesting them and a huge mob started beating me up for no reason. I have never been beaten so badly in my entire life, and that too for just doing my job."