Urban development and local govt in Karachi: a historical perspective

Karachi is one of the biggest South Asian cities with more than 20 million population comprising various ethnic groups. It is located along the Arabian Sea and has had a strategic value for centuries.

The existence of Karachi as a city, in the 18^th century, is identified through some ancient and medieval chronicles. Ancient Greek chronicler Arrian mentioned the site ‘Krokala’, a sandy island, while describing the sailing of Nearchus, the admiral of Alexander, back to Greece through the Indus to Persian Gulf after the invasion of the subcontinent. Nearchus shortly moved further towards northwest from Krokala and harboured near the present city.

Different historians, on the basis of this reference, traced the antiquity. The medieval accounts which deal with Mohammad Bin Qasim’s invasion of Sindh contained references to the vicinity of Karachi, while dealing with expedition route connecting Persia with southern Sindh, through Karachi region. The Arabic treatise on navigation referred a site ‘Kaurashi’. However, the Thomas Roe map of 16^th century did not mention it, rather identified a coastal site of Karachi named ‘Rio de Calamit’. The writings of Alexander Hamilton, who surveyed lower Sindh in late 17^th century, do not indicate the site of Karachi. Tuhfat-ul-Kiram, a book by Mir Ali Sher Qaney Thattvi, is the 18^th century chronicle in which Karachi is identified with the present name.

Seth Naomal’s account of the 19^th century narrates the transformation of Karachi site in 1729 from a small village of 20-25 huts of fishermen to a trading centre. According to Naomal, Karachi inhabited by the fishermen tribe, Kalachi — and therefore formerly known as Kalachi-jo-Goth (i.e. the village of Kalachi — lived inside the 16 feet high fortification wall of mud mixed with straw built by Hindu merchants, led by Bhojomal, the great grandfather of Seth Naomal who had migrated from Karack Bunder, the western bank of the Hub River during late 17^th and early 18^th centuries. Due to heavy rainfalls in 1728, Karack Bunder could no longer be used. The walled town had two gates — the gate facing the sea was Kharadar (salt gate) and the one facing Lyari was Mithadar (sweet gate). Different theories were presented in the 19^th century by the British on the basis of hydrological changes occurring in the coastal region of Indus Delta. These theories were later used for hypothetical testing of antiquity of Karachi. Historians like Henry Pottinger also tested reference ‘Krokala’ of the Greek chronicles and named it ‘Kukrala’ by using the unidentified reference of the native manuscript which identified the site as ‘Khaur Ali’.

Karachi was ruled by Khan of Qalat and Kalhora rulers of Sindh between 1729 and 1795. In 1785, Karachi came under the rule of a Baloch clan, Talpur. The construction of Manora Fort by the Talpurs at the entrance to the Karachi harbour reveals the strategic importance of the Karachi since centuries. Under the Talpurs, Karachi continued to be a fortified settlement and served as an important port for overseas trade. It was administered by an officer, Kardar, who had a wide range of authority over civil and military affairs. By 1830s, the town expanded beyond the dilapidated wall and by 1840s the wall disappeared so the town and the suburbs that expanded beyond the wall merged together.

Karachi came under the control of the British after the annexation of Sindh in 1843, and Charles Napier was appointed as Governor of Sindh. He first made Hyderabad the provincial capital but soon shifted the capital to Karachi. In 1847, Sindh became part of Bombay Presidency with Karachi as its headquarters. Karachi was divided into the native city, with poor urban features, and its suburbs. Part of the city, including cantonment, the civil lines, was developed to accommodate district administration employees and Sadar Bazar was developed to fulfil the needs of the British living in Karachi. The British vigorously paid attention to the city’s development. The most important step was setting the municipality in 1852. Initially, the municipal committee consisted of nominated and official members presided by the Commissioner in Sindh as ex-officio president. By 1885, elective principal was introduced in civic bodies on the basis of limited franchise. The municipality also went through evolutionary stages of development in term of scope of responsibilities and duties since the establishment of the Conservancy Board in 1846 in the wake of cholera epidemic to improve sanitation until the formation of Municipal Corporation in 1933 with Jamshed Nasarwaji Mehta as first elected Mayor of Karachi. Post-partition status and the structure of the local government remained the same, with elected Mayor, Vice Mayor and 57 councilors. The rise in city population followed with the increase in members and upgradation of its status as Metropolitan Corporation in 1976.

The local government underwent experiments by the successive governments. But it is the fiscal and administrative devolution that has remained the bone of contention among the central, provincial and local political parties of Karachi. Article 140(A) of 1973 Constitution of Pakistan and 18^th Constitutional Amendment 2010 provide clear framework for an empowered local government. But Karachi has been without its true administrative network since the last tenure of local government in August 2020 — bearing challenges in the aftermath of Covid-19 both in terms of health facilities and recession; the urban flooding crisis; the ever-growing shortage of clean and fresh water supply; and overburdened traffic.

The natural harbour at Arabian Sea and the strategic location of Karachi converted a fishermen town of ancient times into a cosmopolitan city of the 21^st century. The credit goes to the British who realised its importance and put all efforts to make it today’s Karachi. Their development plans are still an example to follow. With more than seven decades having passed, the city’s demography is drastically multiplied, reciprocal to the devastating condition of the infrastructure. It is the responsibility of the government to restructure, modernise and rebuild the city’s infrastructure and port facilities in order to grab its due share from the global economic pie. Contrary to that, it is disappointing that the development plans designed by the successive governments were not implemented as needed. Administration, decentralisation, devolution and delegation are the aspects related to the requirements of governance on the basis of ground realities. The lack of consensus among people either due to political interest and ethnic division are the main obstacles in this regard. The need of the hour is to redefine the priorities.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 4^th, 2022.

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