The 10th edition of Karachi Eat Food Festival wrapped up on a rather sour note on Sunday night, as gatecrashers swarmed the event. Singer Kaifi Khalil also abruptly stopped his performance amidst the security breach with both the festival’s organisers and the singer issuing a statement after the incident.

A statement by Omar Omari, CEO of Eat Food Pakistan, read: “The Eat Festival came to life 10 years ago with the aim of bringing diverse good food, the citizens of Karachi and music all together under one roof.

Seen as springboard for vendors, Karachi Eat Food Festival underway

“Over the years we have taken the brand to Lahore and Islamabad with the same aim in mind. Despite our most stringent efforts, the closing day of our 10th Eat Festival saw unruly crowd behaviour and some very unfortunate and sad incidents occurred.

“This vengeful disregard for rules and regulations gave rise to events that caused much discomfort to innocent people as gate crashers ran amuck. The crowd at the venue on Sunday was less in absolute numbers than on Saturday but because there were no unruly gate crashers, the first two days ended on a civilised note.

“Regardless, we are collecting the data and conducting a deeper investigation into the matter of surveillance, breach of boundary walls and the need to up the restrictions of what is brought into the arena. Our thoughts and sincere apologies for all who were affected by the unruly crowd and the innocent people who were caught in the crossfire.”

Taking to Instagram to explain the chaos that ensued on Sunday night at Beach View Park, singer Kaifi Khalil wrote:

“I will say that I am a little disappointed and upset because of what happened yesterday. Ladies that came to enjoy the evening with their family and friends were harassed and treated inappropriately by a group of individuals who lacked decency and common sense.

“The event was cancelled mid-performance because I couldn’t continue with what was going on and it became a concern for people in the audiences as well. I request the organisers to please take the safety of everyone attending into consideration.

“It’s disgusting and unacceptable. I am not sure why this keeps occurring but it needs to stop. How can I perform when this happens? I request everyone to be mindful of each other and treat everyone with respect.”

Following the incident netizens took to Twitter to criticise the management and security of the festival, posting images of the chaos that broke out.

After Khalil’s performance was cancelled midway, singer Taha G took to Instagram and issued a statement regarding safety at the venue:

Karachi Eat Food Festival opened Friday, January 7 at Beach View Park, with 150 stalls and live entertainment, aiming to welcome about 250,000 attendees.

The festival also partnered with Careem to facilitate transport to and from the venue, along with Tokrie, an online grocery app that delivered to vendors at their stalls. Foodpanda, the online food delivery service, was delivering food from the festival to customers unable to attend.

Since its launch, Karachi Eat has evolved from a few stalls to welcoming close to 100,000 visitors, according to organisers, in 2020. The event was not held in 2021.