A view of Karachi

May and My Karachi

karachi violence april 2009 - Reuters

From the mid of April I have been listening common lines from many people.

“khuda Kahair karay halat theek rahen 12 may arahi hai”.

Since 2007 this date in May has become a day of terror and uncertainty for the citizens of Karachi. We learn in our course books in primary classes that Karachi is the City of Lights and there was a poem “Roshnion ka shehar Karachi” which still I remember, but now days this material is gone from course books. Children of today know London bridge is falling down but they are not familiar with their own city. 12 May 2007 made my city a place not less than Hell.

I am unable to understand why nobody takes responsibility of it ?

Why still there is no clue that who was behind all that carnage?

From where did all those weapons came and suddenly disappeared?

And many other questions still have to be answered. It is now May 2009 and situation has become more or less similar. The sweeper of our area has been threatened to leave the area as he is a Pathan. Same is the case with my maid who is leaving Karachi because someone is saying her to take care of children as anything could happen to them. The Tandoor near my house was operated by some Pathans and it has been closed since 29 April 2009. The Rerhi Wala Pathan who come daily to sell corn and chick peas is also hiding. Are these are symbols of ethnic clash or a land mafia / drug mafia warfare as it is being portrayed?

Yesterday I was following program Capital Talk on Geo News. The topic was Peace in Karachi: A new challenge for Government. Senator Faisal Raza Abidi pointed a place of Karachi where 250 armed men are hiding. How dangerous it could be. Waseem Akhtar, MNA of MQM, said that Taliban is behind all this and there is no ethnic clash in Karachi. He further added that government should take measures for the peace of Karachi.

Now the question arises that PPP is in Sindh Government as well as MQM. Both are not taking responsibility but playing blame games. On the other hand most of the victims were Pathans as ANP is pointing out. In 2007, Waseem Akhtar was interior minister and he didn’t take responsibility of the situation now he is expecting that the PPP Government should take it. Zulfiqar Mirza The current interior minister said that as a human and minister he is responsible for peace in Karachi and he is ready to resign if anyone better than him is available for this post. How strange all this is.

Now, when it comes to take credit for the recent developments of Karachi, CDGK (City District Government Karachi) is always ready and they put hundreds of banners across the city thanking their Quaid Bhai. But whenever ethnic clashes or riots happen they are not there to accept.

Who is commanding Karachi ?
Who is the real owner of Karachi ?

Is it Sindh Government, PPP, ANP, MQM, City Disrict Government Karachi ???

The blood of all innocent people who became victim is asking,

Main kis k hath pe apna lahoo talash karoon
tamam shehar ne pehn rakahy hain dastanay

Image: Yahoo News via Reuters


Posted

in

by

Tags:

Comments

2 responses to “May and My Karachi”

  1. Hina Safdar Avatar

    Sir,
    I agree with you workers of every party should be disarmed and judicial inquiry is the need of time. I had presented my views as what is happening around me.
    It has been 2 years now but still no progress has been made for 12 may incident.
    I had seen lots of banners in Karachi saying” Swat main larki per honay walay behimana tashadud ki hum purzoor muzamat kartay hain” by MQM but not a single writing about recent riots or the past one. why they were not condemned by any party?

  2. Hamid Majid Abbasi Avatar

    Ms Hina,
    The matter of Karachi, whether it was May 12 or numerous massacre before it, is an eye opener. The leadership at the top level, which ever party it is, should take the initiative of dis arming its workers. As in Turkish they say
    “A weapon is an enemy, even to its own masters”
    The development of Karachi, well thats a far cry that any one should take credit. Are they comparing it with Sukkur, in that case yep Karachi is very developed.
    But just look around, what we term as port cities, Hong Kong, Singapore, Dubai, there is no comparision.
    Things should start from day 1, with a full scale judicial comission to investigate all the matters, including May 12, and bring the culprits to there knees, so that in the future no one could dare to play with the future and lives of any citizen, no matter which party he/she belongs too.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *