KARACHI: 16 women were injured in a stampede at the Benazir Income Support Program (BISP) camp in Kemari area of Karachi, while they were queuing up to receive government stipends on Monday.
Rescue vehicles reached the spot and shifted the injured women to civil hospital for medical assistance. The rescue authorities have said that the condition of a woman is critical in the wake of the incident.
Amid the worsening economic crisis, numerous job losses have been reported due to the closure of industries in Pakistan. The government faces the challenges of revitalizing a stagnant International Monetary Fund (IMF) program.
Due to the economic crisis in the country, inflation has continued to rise, reaching an annual rate of 34.05 percent.
Municipal Superintendent of Police (SP) Mughees Hashmi said that 16 women were injured and unconscious, while four others were shifted to hospital for medical treatment.
“People were being turned away from time to time because of lack of space in the school,” he said.
Police said that the BISP was set up in the camp’s PT school. He added that a large number of women and children were present outside the school.
Police told JEE News that the stampede took place when they ran to get in after the gates were opened, when there were more people there.
He further said that many women fainted on the spot due to heat. “The women fell due to the slope when the gate was opened,” SP Baldia said.
A woman, who was also present at the spot, said that she was called to collect the BISP money.
Launched in 2008, BISP provides cash handouts to the needy and also played an important role during the COVID era when financial assistance was given to people during times of extreme economic distress.
Ramadan stampedes
This year in Ramadan, scores of people across Pakistan were killed and injured while distributing alms to the needy, as ever-rising inflation in the cash-strapped country exacerbated the livelihood crisis.
In the port city, there was a major accident where 11 innocent civilians, including women and children, lost their lives – in an attempt to put food on their tables – during a stampede on the premises of a factory at SITE. Five people were injured in the incident.
In other cases, scores were killed and injured in stampedes at free flour distribution sites under a government-backed scheme to help families struggling with rising prices of the staple staple.
Thousands of people gathered at centers set up across the country as part of the government’s efforts to reduce the effects of inflation. The Pakistani government had launched a flour distribution program to reach millions of needy families during the holy Islamic month of Ramadan.
