Roundtable discussion: How about no more strikes for 6 months, urge stakeholders
Parties and NGOs get together to assess Karachi’s problems and suggest solutions.
KARACHI:
Condemn all political parties and let civil society restore peace. Arm every citizen instead of pursuing the inconceivable deweaponisation of Karachi. Or, assign a psychologist to each of our political parties to train them in anger management.
There were some of the serious, and humourous suggestions made on Saturday at a roundtable conference to explore solutions to Karachi’s violence. It was organised by the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (Piler).
When the microphone suddenly turned off, some speakers nervously quipped that they had been ‘silenced’.
Piler had invited representatives of the Pakistan Peoples Party, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, the Awami National Party and the Pakistan Muslim League-Q well as civil society members to ‘Explore Challenges of Governance, Political Will, State Resources and Ethnic Fault lines’. It was organised with the Pakistan Peace Coalition, Joint Action Committee, Citizens for Democracy, NOW Communities, the Pakistan Medical Association, and the Pakistan Workers Confederation.
“When Sao Paulo, a city 1.5 times the size of Karachi, can solve its terrorism and violence by dialogue and sitting together, then why can’t we,” asked Piler’s Karamat Ali opening the floor to discussion.
Syed Khalid Ahmed of the MQM said that there was no dearth of state resources, no ethnic fault lines and no problem in governing the city. “On 30th March when Pakistan was competing in the cricket World Cup semi final, did we see any divides?” he asked.
Ali Hasan Chandio of the Sindh Taraqi Passand Party blamed the uncontrolled populisation of the city. “From 0.45 million in 1947 and 1.1 million in 1954, how did we reach the enormous present number,” he asked, while blaming illegal immigrants for crime and violence.
Dr Arif Alvi of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf said that it was high time we stopped suspecting religious parties, agencies, political parties, or the mafia for the misfortunes of the city and take action on whomever we suspect.
Sindh United Party’s Idrees Chandio said that Karachi’s violence and problems were only centered on the fight for leadership. “It’s no more the Karachi of Altaf Bhai or the Interior Sindh of BB, the new forces are now the masses and civil society. If these two parties do not change themselves, we will change them in the coming election.”
Hafiz Siddiq Memon linked the city’s issues to the whole of Sindh which was a buffer zone between Delhi and Kabul. Tariq Hasan of the PML Q said that anything happening in the country’s economic hub affects the whole of Pakistan and that degeneration, intolerance that the violence in Karachi must be addressed by political parties who need to train their members.
They urged political parties to rationalise the culture of protest and stop calling for strikes for at least six months.
Nouman from CFD said that all this discussion was happening behind closed doors and that these participants would hardly talk about the same things in the open. “We need action to change things, which still cannot be seen anywhere,” he said. And he was right, at least for now, as all the people from the roundtable got up to leave, only to discover much the same violence going on outside. A PPP man had been shot in Gulistan-e-Jauhar.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 17th, 2011.
Condemn all political parties and let civil society restore peace. Arm every citizen instead of pursuing the inconceivable deweaponisation of Karachi. Or, assign a psychologist to each of our political parties to train them in anger management.
There were some of the serious, and humourous suggestions made on Saturday at a roundtable conference to explore solutions to Karachi’s violence. It was organised by the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (Piler).
When the microphone suddenly turned off, some speakers nervously quipped that they had been ‘silenced’.
Piler had invited representatives of the Pakistan Peoples Party, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, the Awami National Party and the Pakistan Muslim League-Q well as civil society members to ‘Explore Challenges of Governance, Political Will, State Resources and Ethnic Fault lines’. It was organised with the Pakistan Peace Coalition, Joint Action Committee, Citizens for Democracy, NOW Communities, the Pakistan Medical Association, and the Pakistan Workers Confederation.
“When Sao Paulo, a city 1.5 times the size of Karachi, can solve its terrorism and violence by dialogue and sitting together, then why can’t we,” asked Piler’s Karamat Ali opening the floor to discussion.
Syed Khalid Ahmed of the MQM said that there was no dearth of state resources, no ethnic fault lines and no problem in governing the city. “On 30th March when Pakistan was competing in the cricket World Cup semi final, did we see any divides?” he asked.
Ali Hasan Chandio of the Sindh Taraqi Passand Party blamed the uncontrolled populisation of the city. “From 0.45 million in 1947 and 1.1 million in 1954, how did we reach the enormous present number,” he asked, while blaming illegal immigrants for crime and violence.
Dr Arif Alvi of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf said that it was high time we stopped suspecting religious parties, agencies, political parties, or the mafia for the misfortunes of the city and take action on whomever we suspect.
Sindh United Party’s Idrees Chandio said that Karachi’s violence and problems were only centered on the fight for leadership. “It’s no more the Karachi of Altaf Bhai or the Interior Sindh of BB, the new forces are now the masses and civil society. If these two parties do not change themselves, we will change them in the coming election.”
Hafiz Siddiq Memon linked the city’s issues to the whole of Sindh which was a buffer zone between Delhi and Kabul. Tariq Hasan of the PML Q said that anything happening in the country’s economic hub affects the whole of Pakistan and that degeneration, intolerance that the violence in Karachi must be addressed by political parties who need to train their members.
They urged political parties to rationalise the culture of protest and stop calling for strikes for at least six months.
Nouman from CFD said that all this discussion was happening behind closed doors and that these participants would hardly talk about the same things in the open. “We need action to change things, which still cannot be seen anywhere,” he said. And he was right, at least for now, as all the people from the roundtable got up to leave, only to discover much the same violence going on outside. A PPP man had been shot in Gulistan-e-Jauhar.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 17th, 2011.