WHAT are the real images of this city? What is the lifestyle of Karachi? ... Which images bring out more the lifestyle here? We talked about this and this lady was angry, philosophical, articulate.

Have you seen the faces of poverty and deprivation at the city’s traffic lights, which are intended to depict the urban strides of the Sindh capital? Agonizing faces of ill-health and malnutrition, symbolizing the inequality and disparity of lifestyle that Pakistani society has.

They are images of unhappiness that we seem to have taken for granted. Sometimes there are faces of children, sometimes not. Adults, able-bodied, handicapped, some beggars. Seasoned beggars, shrewd beggars and demanding beggars. Men, young and old, women, young and old. All sad looking, she said, explaining that these moving images of people reflect the state our of society. I thought.

There was much to think about in what she said. She spoke of the children who had been kidnapped, and were intended to be smuggled to Malta, and were kept in a Gulshan-i-Iqbal house. What happened to that awful story? Why is no one bothered about it? This is a city that forgets, I tried to sound mild. She still was intense. Even bitter.

Come to think of it, Karachi’s twinkling traffic lights present to us the sharpest contrast, embarrassing contrast, between the different income groups that the city has (like any other city, really). Look at the new, dream-look cars that stop at the traffic lights, and the dilapidated public transport system that comes to a halt at the same intersections. Look at the people who sit in some of these cars, and look at the people who sit in those buses, minibuses, rickshaws, and even taxis. There is a world of difference, two different worlds really. In fact many different worlds exist in this city, making one contemplate how they all coexist.

Special mention needs to be made of the children on the city’s roads, the children of the poor essentially. Take any city area, any commercial area, and look at the children who are trying to sell assorted items and supplement their families’ incomes. Some only sell sad, sob stories, and others flowers. Fresh flowers whose fragrance can deceive! The reality of it all is only painful.

These are children, boys and girls, innocent and starry eyed too; some of them should be in school. In the chill of winter they should be indoors, and in the scorching heat of the streets they should be in shade, and sheltered. But these children are out there suffering, reminding one of the fact that children seem to be getting a particularly raw deal, not just in this country, but elsewhere in the world where there is strife and bloodshed. Look at the children from the war, and displacement of Afghans, who have landed up in Karachi.

That we have women selling newspapers, or doing straight forward begging for alms, with infants in their arms, is another picture of distress.

Images of anxiety. These too are in plenty and one very current one is that of urban commercial centres where daring criminals strike, and try and commit dacoities. Petty thieves and cheats operate freely in these commercial areas is yet another dimension. This week there have been, so far, until Friday afternoon, at least two instances where certain popular commercial areas had to be closed due to crime. There was the electronics market in Saddar, and the Nursery Block 6 PECHS area, details of which crimes have appeared in Dawn during the week. There have been strikes at the electronics market on Abdullah Haroon Road, and adjoining areas, and these remind one of the many occasions where local jewellers have protested when crime has dealt them a bloody blow, or more.

Images of rampant consumerism. Look at the brands and the goods and services that are available in the developed parts of the city; and look at those that are found in lesser abundance in the less-developed residential and commercial areas, where the common man resides. One person says that even in the developed and posh areas not everybody has access to the “expensive” array of imported and franchise goods and services. Anyway, also look at the difference there is in the variety and quality of fruit and vegetables that are available in various parts of the city.

And you will realize the socioeconomic differences that exist, but at times conveniently get overlooked. As if the differences and the diversities don’t matter?

And what kind of images come of the pedestrians who walk on the pavements of the city. Interestingly there are no pedestrians in the developed parts of the city, where even the footpaths are cleaner and better built. Yet no people.

Amongst the unsafest and riskiest places to walk on in this city are the pavements, that expose the quality of priority that is attached to this very concept by civic agencies as well as revealing the poor quality of construction work that is generally done. How the contractors have got away with it all these years, almost a lifetime, is a story most people seem to know. Strange that for all the growth and expansion that the city has witnessed in the past five decades, the world of pedestrians, so pivotal to society, has remained a forgotten story. We have apparently assumed that people do not walk on roads. They float.

There is an environment-related image that reflects our lifestyle. Not just the disposal of garbage, at the residential level, that is grossly deficient, but even the ultimate disposal (through burning) in most city localities that is reflective of the lack of awareness and resources that are required.

It is impossible to comprehend why garbage is burnt if you take into account all the environment rhetoric, but it is easy to understand and accept it if you bear in mind the absence of any real public opinion on this subject — as well as the paucity of resources.

Karachi is a city that has many images of plenty and prosperity. Of affluence and even grandeur. But it has many more disturbing images of a lifestyle, that reflects deprivation and handicap of many kinds and a permanence too.

PAKISTANIS living in the United States are divided over the referendum called for by Gen Pervez Musharraf seeking another five years in office to “introduce real democracy” in Pakistan.

On a popular Pakistani portal, Pak-Watan.com, a survey indicates that 55 per cent of voters were for such a referendum, 45 per cent opposed it. In another survey on the participation of former prime ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, most Pakistanis seemed to agree (80 per cent against, 20 per cent for) with Gen Musharraf’s decision not to allow them to contest election.

The dilemma for Pakistanis is twofold: one, they do not want military rule to continue given the experience of Gen Ziaul Haq’s 11-year rule which destroyed the moral fabric of the country; two, the two leaders of the main political parties are credited with mismanaging the economy.

After Gen Musharraf’s speech wherein he declared his decision to seek public approval to rule the nation for another five years, most Pakistanis here said it was painful to hear the general ignore the 11 years’ era of his predecessor Gen Zia whom almost everyone holds responsible for the ill-besetting the nation.

Blaming the politicians, who ruled the country for 10 years — under the shadow of the army — following Zia’s death, for the crisis in the country is an “intellectually dishonest” statement, they contend. The army after all has ruled the country for 30 of the 55 years since its independence. Mostly they are convinced that Zia’s 11-year rule did most damage to Pakistan than any other politician could ever dream of.

“Gen Zia destroyed not only the moral fabric of Pakistan as we know it, he managed to destroy the democratic institutions in order to consolidator his hold over Pakistan. His support for the religious front in Pakistan as against the political parties was aimed to divide and rule. He had no love lost for Islam or for that matter anyone else. It was under Gen Zia the dreaded Inter-Service Intelligence Agency became the power behind the throne so to speak. It managed to discredit any and everybody who stood in Gen Zia’s vision. It was ISI which led the proxy war in Afghanistan even after the Soviets withdrew and the Americans stopped their aid to the intelligence services.”

They noted that even after the death of Zia the long arm of ISI continued to hold sway over Pakistani politicians and politics. Lt-Gen Hamid Gul, former ISI chief who openly declared that he was given instructions by the then chief of army staff Gen Aslam Beg to create IJI led by Nawaz Sharif in order to give Ms Benazir Bhutto a truncated mandate so that she does not become a force to be reckoned with.

Gul even said that even after he was removed he was given money by the ISI to prop up Nawaz Sharif and the Pakistan Muslim League. He even refers to the conversations he had with the Sharif family in which Nawaz Sharif expressed trepidation’s to become a political leader while campaigning against Benazir Bhutto, and the elder Sharif, the father, telling his son to act like a man. The Pakistan army then managed to browbeat Ms Bhutto into accepting its terms to assume power by retaining several of Zia’s ministers and ISI cohorts. Then Ms Bhutto, in a plan again devised by ISI was dismissed on charges of corruption by Ghulam Ishaq khan. Then Nawaz Sharif was brought into power and his party which did not tow the ISI line completely was again overthrown and Ms Bhutto came again ,dismissed again and then Sharif and we know the rest.

Most Pakistanis also believe that politicians like Ms Bhutto and Mr Sharif did benefit from the immense power of the office personally. But what Gen Musharraf conveniently ignored is the many corrupt army officers who filled their coffers with riches by way of contracts, kickbacks and bribes. The case of naval chief admiral Ahsan is only the tip of the iceberg and he became a easy scapegoat because he was on cahoots with Ms Bhutto’s husband Asif Zardari.

But what about hundreds of army generals who looted Pakistan and became rich with houses from Australia to the United States. The many top bureaucrats both in Zia’s era and the eras of Bhuttos and Sharif who became insanely rich. “For Gen. Musharraf to ignore the ignominious rule of Gen Zia and its impact on the nation and the role played by ISI is totally devoid of reality and an effort to condone the army for the role it played in destroying the moral fabric of the country. And now he wants a Zia-like referendum to stay the course. “This is unacceptable,” said one Pakistani businessman here. Many Pakistanis here said if Gen Musharraf has to stay in power he must resign as the army chief of staff first and then contest elections in the elected parliament in October.

However, some quickly noted that before he does that he has to rein in the powerful ISI and the Jihadi within the army who threaten to dislodge him. For one thing he has to purge the ISI of the elements who hold sway over the body politic of Pakistan — ISI who aids and abets the so-called extremist minority known as the Jihadis.

In an editorial last week the New York Times rightly observed: “Since its independence and partition with India in 1947, Pakistan has been ruled mostly by military dictatorships. As a result, its political system has never been allowed to mature. Instead, it has been corrupted by organized criminal groups, extremist Islamic organizations financed from overseas and a powerful but covert military organization known as the Inter-Service Intelligence agency, or ISI In the 1980s, the United States did business with all these groups, as the Central Intelligence Agency and Saudi Arabia poured billions of dollars through Pakistan into the anti-Russian rebellion in neighboring Afghanistan. In some respects, the United States is now facing deformities in Pakistan that it helped create.”

The Times noted: “General Musharraf’s overthrow of a civilian government in 1999 did not help, but the turnaround of the last six months has been remarkable. Without assistance from Pakistani military intelligence, the United States would not have been able to win the war against the Taliban as quickly as it did. General Musharraf has arrested 2,000 militants, and Pakistani and American law-enforcement officials appear to be cooperating in the investigation of the kidnapping and murder of Mr Pearl.

“Nevertheless, General Musharraf must accelerate his efforts to purge the ISI of links with militant groups operating in Afghanistan, Kashmir and within Pakistan. Acting against these groups is likely to generate opposition to General Musharraf within the army and, some say, could endanger his life. He has no choice but to change the direction of his troubled nation and its military establishment. Dissident elements of the ISI have to be rooted out, and the agency has to end its support of Islamic insurgents in Kashmir and cease intimidating Pakistani civilian politicians,” the paper said.

The choices for Gen Musharraf are pretty clear. In order to get the country back on track, he has to purge the enemy within and then tackle the enviers without. He has to allow the political institutions to emerge as a counter-force against the extremist minority as he calls them, but who dominate the body politics through guns and the money provided by the ISI most Pakistanis here said.

KANHATTI Gardens, located eight kilometres north of Khabakki Lake in Soon Sakesar (Khushab district) and entrenched along the Gabhir Nullah south of Talagang tehsil, is a fascinating spot of natural beauty. Guarded by hills and red cliffs to the north and south along a singing stream, it entices the casual visitor with its hypnotizing flora. It was not easy for me to visit the place earlier as there is no proper transport and it is situated beyond some inaccessible hills.

However, I had always harboured a deep desire to visit this serene spot. It was a bright sunny day when we left Mardwal village on a Sunday morning. Thanks to the British spirit of adventure, a metalled road now meanders through the hills up to Kanhatti. Driving on a serpentine road in the hills, we could find no trace of human habitation for a considerable stretch of the distance. But as soon as we touched the lower fringes of the hills, life started unfolding itself and clusters of high and low trees became visible from afar. Kanhatti Gardens, no doubt, offer a breathtaking spectacle.

Kanhatti Gardens, owned by the Khushab district council, are spread over 75 bighas (a bigah equals 2.5 acres) of land. Another 25 bighas of fertile land is owned by local farmers. However, one wonders at the ingenuity of the British. They always looked for spots where they could spend their leisure far from the madding crowd. How did they spend their spare moments at such isolated spots takes one back to the days of the Raj. Apart from Kanhatti, Sodhi Jaywali and Sakesar were places of a similar nature. The British administrators located these wonderful places and depended on their local agents for services and comfort wherever they went. One of the deputy commissioners of Sargodha, who was once on a hunting trip, somehow drifted into the Kanhatti jungle. There he happened to meet a local farmer, Karam Bakhsh, who served him so well that he was highly pleased. As a reward, the DC allotted 25 bighas to him which continue to be owned and tilled by his descendants. The land is so fertile that its produce is sufficient to feed 30 to 40 households. Kanhatti is supporting Arains, Awans and some families of blacksmiths.

The “Lohars” own six water mills, locally known as ‘jandar’ or ‘gharas.’ As a matter of fact, it is the existence of these mills which particularly attracts picnickers and tourists to this place. Before the installation of motorized flour mills, these water mills were the major means of grain-grinding in this area. Six of the mills, three at the upper and three at the lower reaches of a stream, are now lying idle for want of a reasonable flow of water. Only the waters of a spring, half a kilometre upstream keep the wheels of these mills running.

According to Ata Muhammad, the owner of a mill and our guide, a flour mill can grind 28 maunds of wheat or other grain in 24 hours.

The recent drought, he said, had adversely affected the flow. Some ascribe the flow to a subsoil reservoir, while others attribute it to the Khabakki Lake, some eight kilometres to the south-west. Whatever the source, geologists have linked it to annual rainfall in the area. State land is covered by an orchard growing three special varieties of orange, apples, apricots, peaches, pears, almonds, loquats and plums. Grapes were grown here successfully but an effort to grow mangoes proved abortive. Local farmers, too, have planted fruit trees on their small farms but they prefer vegetables which are easier to manage and fetch ready cash. They have now taken to mechanized farming.

The antiquated mechanism has remained of special interest and attraction to people as far back as one can recall. The spring waters are diverted into a steep waterfall 20 feet above the wooden wheel which forces the mill-stone to rotate. The wooden wheel is connected with the millstones above. With the rotation of the wooden wheel and the millstone, the grain starts pouring into the millstone hole through a vertical pipe which is linked to a platform above.

A certain quantity of water must flow down the channel to force the wooden wheel to gather enough momentum. Consequently, flour starts siphoning off into bags or steel containers. Until recently, the people used to bring their wheat from such far-off places as Anga and Jabba. But the advent of mechanized mills has rendered these contrivances redundant.

The diminishing flow has sounded the death-knell to these ancient pieces. The tourism department should help preserve these mills as they constitute an important landmark.

Potohar is rich, not only in minerals but also in water resources. According to the director-general of the Potohar Water Management Project, there are 250 sites where small dams can be built. Some 2.5 million acre feet of water from springs and streams rushes down the slopes into the brackish ravines of the Gabhir Nullah. Only one-tenth of a million acre feet of water has been harnessed so far. If a small dam is built over the Kanhatti stream, it can usher in a green revolution in the area. Apart from power generation, the dam can make the mills run again. The surplus spring waters can be carried across the nullah, lying north of the Kanhatti, and turn infertile land into rich orchards.