KARACHI: This is with reference to your editorial of January 27 titled, “Banning concerts”. I have to say that the resolution passed by the Punjab Assembly is one of the most absurd things I have read about in quite some time.

It does nothing to address the causes of the Alhamra tragedy, where a stampede after a concert by Atif Aslam caused the deaths of three college students. If anything, the assembly should have passed a resolution making mandatory that all venues for concerts and other functions involving the gathering of large crowds have an adequate number of emergency exits. It could have passed a resolution mandating that henceforth, all such events require a no-objection certificate from security and safety considerations. It could have instead asked the city police chief for details on the investigation of the stampede so far and inquired from him if any arrests had been made.

After all, three precious lives were lost and someone has to be held responsible for their deaths. The way forward is not to propose such silly and punitive measures because if this would solve things then the Punjab Assembly should also pass resolutions calling for bans on electricity (since many people die every year because of fallen wires or from touching an electric pole during a rainstorm).

Such a resolution, unfortunately, indicates that some Punjab MPs have a worldview that is not very different from that of the Taliban.

Ali Arsalan

Source: The Express Tribune