It is time that Karachi be given a Karachi-specific policy.
ADELAIDE, AUSTRALIA: This is with reference to your editorial “The streets of Karachi” (July 25). Karachi is the country’s financial hub but Karachiites are dispossessed, deprived and dispensable, and, so far, this has worked to bite the hand that feeds the country. It is time that the government sought a plan to protect the city.
Those who live in Karachi are by far the real stakeholders but they have been completely disregarded. Their electoral decision has been translated into administrative authority to govern the city — that, too, replete with limitations and barriers. The interior minister did visit the city, but not much was brought into public domain. Yes, there is a need for radical solutions which can only take place if there is a radical paradigm shift and a genuine political will to find a viable solution. A host of options have been used with marginal or no success.
Karachi has been a victim of military operations; extrajudicial killings were a regular occurrence. Then came the strategy of creating a splinter political group that didn’t work. There were intermittent incidents of ethnic violence in the city. Nothing worked and the people of Karachi continued to repose their confidence in one political entity. The only radical solution will be to completely hand over the city and its administration to the chosen representatives of Karachi.
Karachi needs a directly elected mayor like London and New York. If the federal and provincial governments are sincere with the people of Karachi, they would realise that it is time that Karachi be given a Karachi-specific policy. The mayor should have maximum control of the city with policing and transport under his jurisdiction.
All are welcome to come and work in Karachi but a level of sense of belonging to the city needs to be demonstrated. Karachiites have chosen through the ballot. There is an urgent need to trust and respect their choice. Otherwise, all efforts will remain ineffective and inconclusive.
Aysha Majeed
Published in The Express Tribune, July 26th, 2013.
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