What Exactly Happened at Karachi Eat 2023?

A lot of fuss has been going around about this year’s Karachi Eat. Everything from the singer being injured by someone throwing a bottle at him to families being harassed. However, not all of this is true and if you were also looking to know everything about what actually happened at Karachi eat 2023 then this article will help you get all the answers.

Karachi Eat 2023 Was Overcrowded:

Disturbance at Karachi Eat last night. According to the reports and witnesses, the unfortunate incident happened during Kaifi Khalil’s performance on the stage. Reportedly, Khalil was hit by an object thrown from the crowd. More updates to follow;#TOKAlert #KarachiEat2023 pic.twitter.com/TX1LBlktNO

— Times of Karachi (@TOKCityOfLights) January 9, 2023

First and foremost, let’s discussed what went wrong this year after all, K Eat has been happening for a decade now and we’ve never witnessed anything like this before so, what actually was the difference? Well, the biggest issue that everyone who went to the famous eat festival knows is that it was overcrowded.

Although we know that events like this rarely happen in Karachi and being one of the most successful events, Karachi eat is a crowd-puller but is the festival getting too big for its own good?

Not only did people arrive in masses on all 3 days but there were also a lot of stalls this year. The event was so overcrowded that you could just see heads everywhere you go, and not just near the stage, where the concerts were happening, but also at every food stall. This can be due to the fact that Karachi Eat does not specify the number of tickets or the number of audiences, maybe if they had set a number, it wouldn’t have been much of a problem. Although we do agree that the option for buying tickets online definitely resulted in having to wait less in lines to buy a ticket and saved you time.

Karachi Eat losing its True Purpose and Identity:

#KarachiEat2023 #KarachiEatFestival miss management @karachieats pic.twitter.com/3rtliuWeHj

— zamzam saeed (@zamzamkhan61) January 8, 2023

Among all the other things, one factor that was what made Karachi Eat what it is was that it used to be Kickstarter for small businesses and worked as a type of a ‘launch-pad’ for businesses that were new and wanted a platform to introduce themselves to the world. However, this year almost all of the restaurants were the one that has already made it big and people know about them. Doesn’t this kind of beat the purpose of the event? You could just as easily go to the restaurant’s outlet itself and enjoy your meal in a peaceful environment.

Aside from this, the same dish was being served at different eateries. Do you remember the time when restaurants used to make an effort for Karachi Eat by introducing exclusive and unique dishes that were only served at the food festival? Now, you will be able to find the same dish being sold by a lot of restaurants by a different name or having a little something extra.

There were about six to seven different stalls serving their version of a Philly Cheese Steak burger or sandwich and they all has the same condiments. Doesn’t this beat the purpose of the event where you are going to try out different and new types of food? Furthermore, the over crowdedness also meant that the stalls were going through a food shortage. You had to wait half an hour to an hour for the restaurant to restock their dish and this was happening after every 4 to 5 hours.

Now, when it comes to the food quality, a lot of people had to say that it was the worst. Either the food was bland and lacked good quantity or either the line was so long that you decided to leave it altogether. Is Karachi Eat really losing its true identity and not sticking to the roots that make it the phenomenon that it is today?

Kaifi Khalil Karachi Eat 2023:

On the last day of the event, the famous “Kahani Suno” singer was the one to perform and a lot of the crowd was there just for Kaifi to listen to his angelic voice. However, the dream was cut short when a very unfortunate and indecent accident occurred. A lot of women were harassed in the crowd who were in the concert. A lot of eyewitnesses also came forward to talk about their horrible experiences, one Twitter user recalled,

Hello everyone thank you for your pure love and support. kindly Read this and share. pic.twitter.com/QWLseK2EbN

— Kaifi Khalil (@kaifi_khalil) January 9, 2023

“A gang of literally 8 Afghan guys was standing beside us. I initially thought they were a random group, but I wasn’t getting good vibes. After that, asked my friend to get a shopper and we should leave while I stood there with my daughter and leftover food. They all literally came and sat beside me, and I shouted kia masla hai and tried to take over the food from my hands. I slapped one of them on his back, and they all ran away within seconds.”

Videos of stags breaking through the gate were also uploaded on social media by users who were present at the event and had to witness the chaos firsthand. The crowd went unruly and when these stags entered the event, families, and women were harassed really badly.

After seeing all of this, Kaifi Khalil stopped his concert mid-way and left the stage after which the management and the host, Ahmed Godil, started rescuing women they could see from the stage getting harassed in the crowd down below. Young Stunner, who were supposed to perform after Kaifi, also refused to perform and the whole event was called off.

Another Twitter user wrote,  

“Young Stunners refused to perform and everything was called off. The management just wrapped everything up. The security was equal to none.” He concluded, “It’s unfortunate, we have become uncivilized ghosts.”

One also recalled,

“Made it out thank God. There were men outside the venue trying to get in to harass women. The police were trying to control them, and suddenly the lights went out and they were all hooting like crazy. Had to climb out of a broken wall to get safely to my car.”

Stags broke the gates and forcefully entered #KarachiEat today. People are saying that they literally had to leave through spaces between walls and jump off them to get out of the chaos. Please ban such events in the city if security can’t be managed.

— Armash (@armashshahab) January 8, 2023

Stags broke in through the gate and even climbed walls to get inside. The security was unable to control the number of people that were barging in totally out of control and thus, the last day of Karachi Eat 2023 went completely off the rails.

Should we Blame the Management?

The end of karachi eat #KarachiEat2023 pic.twitter.com/m7s0qfqkfr

— vibesoftheday (@AqsaGagan) January 8, 2023

Well, the answer is not really black and white since the rest 2 days of the eat festival went great however, this mishap towards the end of the event really showed us how the public is. After all, how much security can there be at a public event that’s supposed to be a place where people can come to enjoy it? There cannot be security personnel for each person, obviously, the security was less in number. However, the management will have to take some serious steps to make sure nothing like this ever happens again.

People go out to these events to wind off and enjoy with their families, especially since events like these rarely happen in Karachi, but to have their experiences marked so bad, for the women to have such horrible experiences linked with an event that they once used to praise and love, is just unfortunate and sad.

People really need to behave and stags, who were not allowed at generally all family events, really need to think about how their families will feel if they were present here with them. We all need to respect the boundaries set by any event that is meant for the families to enjoy good food and have a good time, not tainted by experiences so bad.