World’s best mayor?

KARACHI: This is with reference to Ahmad Rafay Alam’s article of June 12 titled ‘The world’s best mayor?’

Compounded by various divides (the infamous “bridge divide” that haunts us more than most of the others), this city has been fractured by Mustafa Kamal’s party (if not himself) along sub-nationalist and ethnicity-driven lines. Let’s face it; Karachi is probably the only city in the country where you can find yourself in ‘trouble’ if you don’t order your coffee in English (in one area), and can end up in another pickle if you don’t order your bread in Pashtu (in another ‘enclave’).

Yes, Karachi may be the true cosmopolis of our Republic, but it is also right up there with a place like Quetta when it comes to communal tensions.

Published in th Express Tribune, June 13th, 2010.