Karachi - From an extraordinary town to an ordinary one

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Considering the status quo in Karachi and its battered condition, it would not be an exaggeration to say that the corruptible ruling elites and subsequent political tussles between the opposition parties and the govt. left no stone unturned in reversing the expectations of the founder

2020-10-04T23:08:00+05:00 Mehmil Khalid Kunwar

In his reply to the civic address by Karachi Corporation on Aug 25, 1947, Quaid-e-Azam portrayed the bright future of Karachi by enthusiastically declaring it to be not an "ordinary" town. He visualized it among the finest cities of the world owing to its proximity to the Arabian sea and apodictic abundance in marine resources. Given the immense potentialities of Karachi especially in commerce, trade and industry, he regarded it a great metropolis. 

Considering the status quo in Karachi and its battered condition, it would not be an exaggeration to say that the corruptible ruling elites and subsequent political tussles between the opposition parties and the govt. left no stone unturned in reversing the expectations of the founder. 

The unplanned urban sprawl and construction of residential areas and apartments with absolutely no scrutiny, increased the inter-migration and illegal settlements. In an effort to legitimize social mobility and finding a resourceful place of livelihood, more people tended to move towards the industrial city, and as a consequence, the population exploded. This placed a huge burden on the shoulders of the government to manage these large number of people (which according to Pakistan Bureau of Statistics amounts to 16 million as of 2017 census). 

The monster of over population worsened the socio-economic conditions of people and their living standards. Lack of sanitation and health facilities, deteriorated law and order situation, poor drainage, air pollution, inefficient management of resources, are some of the numerous problems, the biggest metropolis of Pakistan is facing today.

On top of it, the presence of multiple political structures and dire obsession of Sindh Government towards Karachi has lessened the possibilities of any amicable solution of these incumbent issues. 

To make Pakistan, in general, and Karachi in particular, survive economically, the Federal Government must break all the political shackles to resolve the grievances of Sindh Government by reviving the spirit of CCI (Council of Common Interest) and take all the stakeholders on board to fight off the grave issues. Moreover, the Sindh Government should regard "Karachi" as a part of Pakistan and not just of "Sindh" alone and sit on the negotiation table with the Federal Government keeping aside the political differences to rescue the people of Karachi.

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