At least 11 people die in Pakistani Ramadan donation stampede

At least 11 people died in a stampede in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi on Friday, when a Ramadan alms donation sparked a stampede in the inflation-hit country, police said.

Pakistan has been rocked by economic turmoil for months now, with the rupee collapsing and staple food prices jumping nearly 50 percent as the country grapples with a balance of payments crisis that forced it into bailout talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Fida Janwari, a senior police officer in the Baldia area of ​​western Karachi, said the stampede occurred as needy women and children flocked to the alms factory.

“Panic started and people ran,” he told AFP.

A local government official said that between 600 and 700 people were herded into a small industrial complex.

“When the main gate was opened, all the people rushed in,” added Fatima Noor, 22, whose sister died in the stampede.

The bodies of six women and three children were taken to Abbasi Shahid State Hospital, spokesman Mohammed Farrauch said.

A rescue NGO official told AFP that two more bodies were sent to another hospital, while police surgeon Summaya Syed Tariq confirmed the total number of victims was 11 late Friday night.

Asma Ahmed, 30, said her grandmother and niece were among the dead.

“Every year we come to the factory for zakat,” she said, using an Islamic term for charity.

“They started beating the women with batons and pushing them,” Ahmed added. “There was chaos everywhere.”

“Why did they call us if they couldn’t handle it?” she asked.

Janwari said three factory workers were arrested after failing to tell police about a donation event to organize crowd control.

Last week, on the first day of Ramadan, when Muslims traditionally donate to the poor, one person died and eight were injured in a stampede over flour in northwestern Pakistan.

Pakistan’s finances have been crippled by decades of financial mismanagement and political chaos. The situation is exacerbated by the global energy crisis caused by the war in Ukraine and the devastating monsoonal floods last year that inundated a third of the country.

The South Asian nation of 220 million people is mired in debt and must implement tough tax reforms and raise utility prices if it hopes to get another $6.5 billion in IMF bailout and avoid a default.

© 2023 AFP