Tuesday, March 12, 2013

How Karachiites are Fighting For a Brighter Tomorrow...

How ‘The City of Lights’ lost its Sparkle, and how Karachiites are Fighting For a Brighter Tomorrow...

In the wake of the previous Afghan War, drug and arms culture was introduced in Karachi. The drug mafia penetrated in Lyari that happened to be the most vibrant area in yesteryear, politically and culturally.

Gradually, land mafia, transport mafia and drug mafia became so powerful that political activism retreated and was replaced by the barrel of a gun. With growing penetration of drug mafia and bureaucratic capital, the social fabric of Pakistan’s society and Karachi in particular was destroyed, and sectarian killings became order of the day.

Class contradictions were also sharpened. On one hand were limousines worth tens of millions of rupees that plied on the streets of Karachi, on the other were hordes of jobless youth who had nowhere to go.

With population the size of Islamabad migrating to Karachi in search of jobs, the demography of the largest city of Pakistan started changing dramatically. No wonder Karachi now hosts the biggest Pushtoon population in Pakistan.

Had it not been for philanthropists, tens of thousands of people in Karachi would have died of hunger. Social workers such as Abdus Sattar Edhi are not only feeding millions of people in Karachi, but are also running world’s largest ambulance service in the private sector.

But sadly enough, the fate of Karachi is decided by land mafia that has entrenched almost every political party and can trigger gang war and ethnic war in almost every nook and corner of the city.

Clifton, Hawkes Bay, Sandspit and other beaches that once provided solace to Karachiites are now eyed by land mafia. Similarly, heritage buildings too are endangered because Godfathers want to replace them with skyscrapers.

However, there is a silver lining! Despite threats, the civil society and the intelligentsia in the financial hub of Pakistan are adamant on resisting mafias and saving beaches, and to expose the vested interests.

Nobody knows how many years it would take to undo the wrongs of General Ziaul Haq, but one could find oasis in Karachi in the midst of anarchy, lawlessness and chaos.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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