Police in <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/tags/pakistan/" target="_blank">Pakistan</a> on Saturday arrested eight people in the southern port city of Karachi after 12 people were killed at a <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/tags/ramadan/" target="_blank">Ramadan</a> food and cash distribution point a day earlier. Hundreds of women and children <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/2023/03/31/11-women-and-children-killed-in-crush-at-pakistan-food-distribution-centre/" target="_blank">rushed to collect free food and cash</a> outside a factory in an industrial area of the city on Friday. Business owners during the Islamic holy month often hand out cash and food, especially to the poor. An initial report from the police said nine women, aged between 40 and 80, and three children, aged between 10 and 15, died in the crush. Police said the eight people arrested included the factory manager, who did not tell local authorities about the Ramadan alms giving. “Factory management did not open the inside gate of the factory and, due to the narrow street, the people at the tail of the line pushed elderly women and children,” Superintendent of Police Investigations Hafeez Bugti said. “As a result, pressure increased enormously, and women and children became the victims of the stampede.” Funerals were held on Saturday for some of the victims. Police say they issued and publicised an order saying that any person or organisation planning to distribute food or other things to the poor must inform authorities in advance. The chief minister of Sindh province, where Karachi is located, announced compensation for people injured in the crush and relatives of the victims. Murad Ali Shah said each family who lost a loved one would receive 500,000 rupees ($1,760), while everyone injured would receive 100,000 rupees. At least 23 people have died in Ramadan food crushes since the start of the holy month. On Saturday, police fired tear gas at crowds who gathered to receive free flour bags in the north-western city of Peshawar. Cash-strapped Pakistan launched an initiative to distribute free flour among low-income families to ease the impact of record-breaking inflation and soaring poverty during the holy month. While Friday’s crush was not part of that government programme, crowds have swelled at the distribution centres in recent days. The free flour distribution initiative was launched by Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif. His coalition government is facing the country’s worst economic crisis amid a delay in getting a key $1.1 billion tranche of a $6 billion bailout package originally signed in 2019 with the International Monetary Fund. Weekly inflation is 45 per cent, unseen since Pakistan got its independence from British colonial rule in 1947. Rising food costs and soaring fuel bills have raised fears of public unrest. A monthly economic outlook report issued by the Finance Ministry on Friday projected inflation would remain elevated. The report cited market frictions caused by relative demand and supply gaps of essential items, exchange rate depreciation, and the recent upwards adjustment in fuel prices as reasons behind higher inflation expectations. <i>With reporting from agencies</i>