‘People will forget Lyari’s criminal image in two years’

Ellahi Bakhsh Baloch points out global popularity of Lyari’s sportsmen

KARACHI: Once the youth get jobs in different sectors such as the garment industry, people will forget the negative image of Lyari after a couple of years that was created due to the gang wars.

The regional head of Strengthening Participatory Organisation (SPO), Ellahi Bakhsh Baloch, said this at a youth convention, titled ‘Skills and Employment Opportunities for Youth’, organised by the SPO at the main auditorium of Shaheed Benazir Bhutto University, Lyari, on Wednesday.



The convention, which began an hour-and-a-half late, aimed to boost interaction between key stakeholders and the jobless youth of Lyari. The SPO and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) recently launched the Youth Employment Project (YEP) in three different underprivileged areas of the city: Lyari, Sultanabad and Korangi.



Baloch said Lyari was known in the world for the sportsmen it produced. It was also known for democratic people and the people of the area actively participated in different political movements, he said. Baloch said that nine out of 11 players of the current junior hockey team belong to Lyari.

“The business community believes Lyari is peaceful now,” said Younus Muhammad Bashir, the president of Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI). “We are proud of Lyari.” The KCCI president added that the business community wants the youth of Lyari to get job opportunities in different sectors. Bashir urged the young participants to acquire education. He added that skill-based trainings for a prosperous future of your families.

Highlighting the importance of skill-based trainings in the industrial sector and a lack of training institutions across Sindh, Bashir said the provincial and federal governments should focus on this particular side. “Karachi is the economic hub of Pakistan,” he said. “Job opportunities always exist there but it is hard to get a better opportunity without proper trainings.”



Briefing the audience about the major aspects of the project, YEP deputy project manager Qasim Naqvi said they had been approaching uneducated, unemployed youth as they could get jobs in garment factories.

Naqvi said that Lyari has produced legends who earned national and international recognition. “We also focus on jobless women and those who want to earn from their homes,” he said.

Mukesh Kumar, the provincial chief of the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority, said that he knows Lyari not because of its crime-based outlook but because of the sportsmen it has produced. “I know it has also produced educationists,” he said, adding that his favourite teacher hailed from Lyari.

Tariq Baluch, the chief executive officer of Advans Pakistan Micro-Finance Bank, highlighted the benefits of microfinance and loans to start a business for entrepreneurs. He said that his bank offers up to Rs500,000 loans for the purpose. Talking about microfinance services in Pakistan, he said that at least 10 banks offer such services to those who want to initiate a business.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 8^th, 2016.