Crying for Karachi

One would agree with Karachi city Mayor Wasim Akhtar who told the media this week that his party had no other option but to make a deal with the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) as the people had tested the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and Pakistan Peoples’ Party.

Akhtar, who is also a senior member of the MQM, was once seen as a person who was unstoppable. In his new (although not quite new anymore) role, Akhtar’s hands are tied and there is very little he can do in terms of delivery when it comes to the city of Karachi. He is no more someone who can deliver. But one cannot blame him. And yet, possibly it was this poor performance that led to the dismal showing of the MQM in Karachi in the elections this year.

The problem is much bigger than Akhtar and the MQM. Karachi is one of the world’s largest cities but lacks a proper infrastructure. It is possibly one of the only cities of its size where an elected mayor has little control over it. The mayor cannot appoint the police chief or local magistrates. The mayor has to make do with sewage and road building. It is a shame. The mayor doesn’t even have control for many parts of the city and cannot even try to bring them under his control. He cannot fight for more funds. There are too many stakeholders in the city and they are not willing to give space to a mere elected official.

And yet things are different when it comes to other cities. It does not require people to come from overseas, even those who come from Islamabad or Lahore are shocked to see the level of neglect the city faces.

In Karachi, there are heaps of garbage all around. The city streets are broken. Traffic is a mess. Water is scare and the only problem that Karachi can claim to have overcome is its power crisis. Even there what we see is that in the rest of the country, power theft is a normal way of life. Only in Karachi, because power has been handed over to a private utility, and that is why people feel upset when prosecuted. This is part of the reason why people of Karachi feel that they are singled out.

And singled out they are. Karachi pays the lion’s share of the country’s tax revenues and yet a trickle of what is collected is given back to the city for its development and upkeep.

An idiotic argument is made about how much of those items which are taxed are actually for upcountry. Those items as things stand are actually cleared at dry ports, which themselves are a scam. To add insult to injury, Shehbaz Sharif comes and makes fun of the people of Karachi and how they talk. This isn’t one person speaking. It is a mindset now amongst a lot of people.

If there is anyone who can be blamed fairly and squarely for the despicable state the city is in, it is the former chief minister Qaim Ali Shah. Through his corrupt and inefficient government, this man destroyed the city of the Quaid.

His hand chosen ministers made millions instead of public service. It was in his time that the police turned into a mercenary force. Bidding decided which police officer would get what lucrative police station. There was no mercy. It was all money. Many of those corrupt ministers now live in Dubai and beyond. One wonders when they will account for their sins.

Murad Ali Shah can do little. His party is bent on sucking dry whatever remains of the city. And yet, it is not the job of the chief minister to build roads and bridges. Already we have seen the mess that has been made in the underpass in Clifton (where a motorist approaching from Delhi colony cannot turn left) and in the overhead bridge at Punjab Chowrangi (where people coming from Clifton cannot turn right). One can only wonder which genius designed these projects. Someone seems to have made millions on them.

Till we fight this exploitation of Pakistan’s largest city – where
people from almost all parts of the country live and survive, a select
few will make millions while the people suffer. How long can a city
live like this?

 

Published in The Express Tribune, August 6^th, 2018.

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