Ditmas Park

Pakistani festival canceled after rival groups both file applications

August 21, 2018 By Raanan Geberer Brooklyn Daily Eagle
The annual parade route is down Coney Island Ave. between Avenue H and Glenwood Road. Image
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A street festival scheduled for last Sunday on Coney Island Avenue in Ditmas Park, celebrating the 72nd anniversary of Pakistan’s independence, was canceled by the city because of disputes between different Pakistani-American organizations that had filed conflicting permits to sponsor the event.

The Pakistani American Merchants Association told Bklyner it had been hosting the festival for 17 years. However, the Council of Peoples Organization, another Pakistani group, and Nasir Faizi, a public accountant, decided to file separate permits for festivals, or “melas,” for the same day, time and place.

“Until a legal conclusion can be reached to the ownership of the event and the rights to conduct the activity, both applications will remain denied,” read a letter sent to PAMA by the Mayor’s Street Activity Permit Office. Pervaiz Akhter, the president of PAMA, told Bklyner that PAMA had started the annual mela after Pakistani-American kids went to the Indian Parade and ended up getting into fights because of tensions between the two ethnic groups.

 

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