OVER the coming days there will be a lot of

news, and even greater outrage, about how

tragically Karachi has been let down by all its
stakeholders, with its citizens having been left
at the mercy of nature, to fend for themselves.
The justifiable outrage at the collapse of civic services
in the face of unprecedented rains will lead to calls for
separating the sprawling and, without doubt, failing
metropolis from its mother, Sindh; equally there will
be suggestions that the 18th Amendment is the
fountainhead of all evil.
In a few weeks, the debris from the disaster will be
moved from the middle of the streets and major
arteries, and left in piles by the roadside to become a
permanent part of the urban architecture; the
majority of the daily-wage-earner population of
Karachi will be overwhelmed by bread and butter
issues.
And, of course, people will generally start suffering
from outrage fatigue as always seems to happen and
there will be a great risk that the affairs of the city
would start slipping to the default ‘business as usual’
mode, ie nothing is done to address issues that cannot
be left unaddressed any longer.
But, please, please don’t let that happen. In your
anger and despair, you are right to feel whatever you
do and say whatever you think is right. Beyond that
let’s not be distracted by red herrings — whether of
the separate province or repeal of the 18th
Amendment.
 Let’s not be distracted by red herrings
— whether of the separate province or
repeal of the 18th Amendment.
Slogans that trigger political acrimony, ethnic tension
and potential strife can’t deliver solutions. What is
incumbent on us is to hold to account each of those
who have failed us and force them to deliver as they
should. No excuses should be entertained.
The PPP has been at the helm in the province since
after the 2008 elections and has a lot to answer for. It
has devolved many functions of the local bodies to its
own provincial government and must explain how the
various civic bodies directly under it functioned or,
more appropriately, failed.
I promise if the PPP shows half the consideration to
Karachi and its citizens that it has often shown to
Malik Riaz and his various projects such as Bahria
Town Karachi etc, the metropolis would take a giant
step towards having its status as the ‘city of lights’
restored.
The MQM is another culpable entity. During the
Musharraf era, and even during the PPP tenure when
it held the key to keeping the federal government in
office, it could have accomplished so much but threw
it all away.
Water and sewerage infrastructure and an ambitious
public transport system that would work for the
multitudes were sacrificed in favour of expensive
flyovers, underpasses and signal-free corridors for the
few. Even those worked to a point, eventually
delivering accelerated traffic to multiple choke points.
Read: What caused the floods in Karachi?
It was shocking to see images of the artery to the
financial heart of the city, I.I. Chundrigar Road,
submerged. Whatever happened to the project which
saw storm-water drains built under the thoroughfare
while causing months-long disruptions and challenges
to commuters a few years back?
The less said about the various other dominions that
have contributed to transforming the city of lights into
one large garbage dump, interspersed by cesspools,
the better. Yes, you guessed right. The cantonment
boards and the DHAs which are autonomous islands
within the metropolis. Many parts of these islands
currently seem submerged.
To say the mess has no solution is wrong. Everyone
knows what is possible when decision-makers are not
motivated by outright greed, narrow, parochial
agendas or petty politics. Within Karachi, there is
considerable expertise. I don’t need to name names.
Anyone interested in developing a policy aimed at
delivering to the millions of Karachiites will not have
trouble locating the wise men and women with
enviable expertise and sterling track records in urban
planning and egalitarian solutions to all that ails our
beloved city.
In recent days, I have watched architect-urban
planner Arif Hasan on Samaa Digital very articulately
describing what the main impediments to draining
storm water are. Surely, he is one among many such
experts we have in our midst whose expertise and
integrity are both above board.
Then, of course, there are resource constraints.
Former Karachi administrator Fahim Zaman,
appearing on the Dawn News programme Zara Hut
Kay, explained how grossly under-resourced the city
was and how that was exacerbating its woes.
In terms of funding, he said, Karachi has one-tenth
the budgeted amount of what Mumbai spends and
one-twentieth the resources Istanbul is allocated
when its population is smaller. “And remember this is
the budgeted amount. Often there are shortfalls in
actual disbursements.”
Editorial: Orphan City
Against a rather dismal backdrop of recent days where
so many lost their lives and millions of others had a
harrowing experience, there is a ray of hope. After two
years of confrontation with Sindh, Prime Minister
Imran Khan called Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali
Shah and the two leaders have pledged to work
together to ease Karachi’s pain.
The MQM must join hands. A broken Karachi is not
going to be in anyone’s long-term interest. Once basic
faith and civility in discourse is restored and some
headway made in rolling out solutions, the next
logical step would be to negotiate the right quantum
of autonomy and resources for the local government.
Consensus legislation must follow. Admirable as it
was watching the Sindh chief executive and his team,
as also MQM local elected officials, wading through
waist-deep water to get a first-hand understanding of
the challenge and supervising relief efforts, their time
is much better spent developing and executing plans
to obviate such emergencies.
Or we’ll be back to square one when the heavens open
up the next time. Some experts say it would take 10
billion dollars to fix Karachi. Let’s see how many
billions can be shaved off that if all stakeholders
display political will and a commitment to the cause.
The writer is a former editor of Dawn.
abbas.nasir@hotmail.com
Published in Dawn, August 30th, 2020