Articles of the year 2020

There are enough citizens in Karachi, that are honest to the city and could be counted upon to do the right thing.

These citizens are sincere to the cause of Karachi, shown by their rising together to fight for their rights regarding water and electricity.

The voice of these people should be given the right to the levers of municipal control, rather than having to fight through the deceitful web of democracy, which has been lost to criminality. It would be too difficult to prune out the flaws that have instilled themselves into positions of power.

It is obvious, that the shadow of Altaf Hussain still manages effective control regardless of the dangerous implications and his incorrigible resistance to change his spots.

Similar to Altaf Hussain, Karachi is populated with puerile leaders with greedy aspirations and no intention of uplifting the city.

Bahria Town for instance with its beautifully developed plots, with visions of lush manicured lawns, with the water being diverted from nearby Karachi; successfully turning the biggest city of Pakistan into a desert by stealing its precious water resources.

The fearsome power of Bahria, can be witnessed in the success of its developments. Instead of Malik Riaz continuing his rampage on the land grabbing, he could be asked to assist Imran Khan’s dream of building low cost houses. Malik Riaz has that golden touch called success, but like Altaf Hussain he cannot be trusted and will not change his spots.

It is people like Altaf Hussain and Malik Riaz that have dismantled the city of Karachi, which was once credited with generating 70% of the revenues of Pakistan. Today it stands, as a symbol of the ‘not to do’ examples of a failed city.

Imran Khan should invite these citizens to run Karachi. However, first the army should be included in this panel, In order for it to successfully be rid of the MQM contaminants. Industry should be encouraged to restarting Karachi. Incentives such as, duty-free oil for their generators and duty-free petrol for their cars, would be a step in the right direction. This oil would bring the power generation In Karachi to a manageable limit. This would encourage industry by bringing electricity and industrial production to a competitive level, creating a duty free, Singapore- like oasis.

This could result in a new Karachi, where industries primary and secondary could be established. Karachi has the skilled labour, office workers, road network and power networks to sustain this development. The duty-free status would be the panacea to the ills that plague Karachi in its present state.

The reindustrialisation of Karachi is vitally important as unemployment has raised the crime index to epidemic levels, putting it amongst the most dangerous cities in the world. Restoring the industrial output of Karachi should be the prime objective of this government.