Adil Najam
Karachi is at war with itself. Again.
Karachi bleeds, so does all of Pakistan. And Karachi bleeds too often. In a country that seems to be forever falling apart, the falling apart of this, the greatest of its cities, is both a sign and a foreboding. As painful as the daily killings and mayhem in Karachi is the sense that no one has any interest or any idea about what can or should be done. To be honest, I am not sure what I would do myself.
And so, dear readers, I turn to you: What would YOU do if you were made King of Karachi?
What realistic, practicable, and implementable steps would you do to deal with the perennial bouts of panic and death and destruction that this wondrous metropolis seems to be perpetually caught in? What would YOU do: in the short term? In the medium term? In the long term?
This question hit me hard when this morning I was talking over the phone with a rather influential Pakistan. In desperation I lambasted at how no one was doing anything. In equal desperation, he agreed. But then he asked me what could be done? What would I do? It was an honest question, not a cynical one. He was not making an excuse. He was searching for solutions. As am I. I have thought of this question all day and not come up with much. I do have some ideas. But they are vague and I wonder how practicable and realistic?
Hence, I reach out to you, dear readers. What would you do if you were made king of Karachi for a day?
Someone, desperately needs to come up with an answer. And soon. In the very first weeks of this blogs life (back in 2006) we had carried a post about why nobody in Karachi whistles anymore. We desperately need Karachi’s whistling days back!
True, this is a city that has never really been at rest. We have seen all of this, maybe even more, before. But any city – even one as resilient as Karachi – can only take that much restlessness. At some points its nerves have to give up. Distraught and in disarray, it has to scream out in anguish and hit out at itself. One wonders if we might already be beyond that point.
@Nusrat: PPP has always promoted itself as a leftist party. Try to spend time to learn a bit about its followers. Few of them even exist on Web too..Even on this particular forum.
I would arm ALL the citizens of Karachi. Give an AK-47 to every single adult male and female. That’s the only way the helpless citizens can defend themselves from the thugs.
adnan -are you being ironic when catergorizing ppp as a leftist” party.if not, have you heard the piety spewing forth from their leader’s mouth lately?
I would eliminate all leftist radicals exist in secular parties like MQM,ANP and PPP.
The truth which is usually not highlighted by this pro-left website that Karachi has not been hijacked by some Right wing Talibans. The recent killings in Karachi are due to tussle between secular militant parties; MQM, ANP and PPP. This is the classical example for the leftist apologists who always say on various forums that there is no militancy in seculars and liberals
Very simple sloution, just put Altaf Bhai, Zardari Bhai, Asfandyar Bhai , Nawaz Bhai Jan and Hazrat Maulana Diesal Khan to FBI for good as their Royal Guests,,,,there will be all peace not only in Karachi but in whole of Pakistan