Organiser of charity stall overrun by 'looters' pledges to continue work.

KARACHI -- Fruit distribution stalls set up for the deserving people by social media influencer and philanthropist Mustafa Hanif were looted and destroyed by attackers near the Jail Chowrangi flyover, where he was selling fruits for Rs10 a kg for those who cannot afford to buy them due to high prices in Ramazan.

Mustafa Hanif has been setting up the stall each Ramazan for the past three years to help people struggling to make ends meet in this time of high inflation. But on March 24, during the distribution of fruits, chaos erupted and people started looting his bags of fruits. Despite repeated requests by Mr Hanif to stop, no one listened to him.

After the incident, he shared his views on social media, in which he described his disappointment.

When Dawn approached him over the phone, Mr Hanif said that such a thing had never happened before in previous years; it was a shock for him, and the number of people that rushed into the tent to steal fruits was overwhelming and beyond their control.

'Our stall was not the only one that was robbed; one near Hasan Square and Burns Road were also looted. It must've been a pre-planned plot to stop us, but we won't,' he vowed.

Further talking about the incident, he said that there were some people who started throwing bags of fruit at the end to their partners, while the respectable ones distanced themselves from the crowd and watched the whole thing in misery.

'We were just 12 to 14 people, the crowd was over 600 easily, and we had no choice but to see the disaster unfold while standing back,' said one of the...