| April 14, 2008 | Monday | Rabi-us-Sani 7, 1429 |
Street crimes on Shahrah-i-Noor Jehan
It seems Karachians have lost their taste for arts and culture, for the city of late has become dull and lacklustre as far as cultural activities are concerned. Many regular events and those organised off and on have not been held for quite some time now. This void in the city’s cultural life, whether on account of political upheavals or the law and order situation, may be fuelling intolerance in its dwellers.
The KaraFilm Festival is one of the thrilling events this city used to host every year. The festival offered opportunities to enterprising young film-makers, budding actors both new and old as well as producers and directors from different countries to exchange notes and dwell at length about the state of cinema across the world.
Some very good art movies touching on human interest themes were screened and enjoyed thoroughly by film enthusiasts. The sixth KaraFilm Festival was held in December 2006 and there has been none since then.
For the entertainment-starved public, particularly those tired of watching the same old faces on cable channels, our local cinema halls started screening Indian movies. This is a good change, especially if it can revive our cinema industry. Unfortunately, certain elements do not accept this and will go to any length to stop it.
Last Sunday, a group of protesters demonstrating against the film Fitna by a right-wing Dutch politician-turned-director, which is disrespectful of the Holy Qur’an, decided to vent their wrath on the local cinemas. Though one of the cinema halls screening the Indian film Race had expected some trouble, their Sunday show was booked to capacity and they could not cancel it at the last minute. The cinema management did take precautions and locked the doors from outside, though the angry mob surged ahead and ransacked the cinema hall and thrashed the staff. It is a typical example of beating up the donkey for the sins of the dhobi (washerman).
We are fast becoming an intolerant society as witnessed by the entire world just last week. We elect our politicians to high office, which makes them feel that they can do as they please in the assembly halls and bash up opposition members and humiliate them in front of TV cameras.
The city used to have the Koocha-i-Saqafat (Cultural Corner) every Sunday, and has been without it for several months. It had become a major attraction for Karachians, who welcomed the change as the Koocha featured many aspects of our heritage, arts and culture. Folk artistes rendered the musical notes of Sindh while street theatre was also staged. Besides, oil paintings, books, magazines, hand-made jewellery, clothes and many other wares depicting local culture would be put on display. And who can forget the small snack corners offering sizzling samosas, cholay and haleem etc.
All in all it was an interesting aspect of cultural life in Karachi but unfortunately, it was discontinued, though for art lovers and movie buffs like me “hope springs eternal.”
PS: The annual festival organised by the All Pakistan Music Conference was delayed for a day because of a breakdown of law and order in Karachi. The organisers shifted the venue and went ahead with the rest of the festival. For this, they deserve the gratitude of music buffs.
—Syed Ali Anwer
School daze
How many times have you slipped down memory lane while parked beside a school bus at a traffic light? My school years were not too long ago, but after going through university and shuffling through the first few jobs, I tend to think otherwise.
The sight of a school van brimming with uniformed students sticking their hands – and sometimes legs — out of a window reminds me of the good old days when homework was the biggest problem in life and the only burden I faced was from my heavy schoolbooks. The groggy feeling in the morning assembly and the ketchup-stained uniforms at the end of the day were permanent features of my school life. Then there were long afternoons spent standing beside the school buses waiting for our cars and vans to come pick us up, while we each silently prayed that we would not be the last one to be left at school.
And here we are, a long way from those days. I am not sure whether to be envious or irritated by the rowdy children in these school vans. I am irritated when they pull funny faces at random cars, throw chewing-gum wrappers out their window and fail to understand the risk involved in hanging half their bodies outside bus doors!
But I am envious when I realise that there will be no more field trips and sports days in my life anymore. No more huddling into a bus, fighting over whom to sit with, and then changing your mind about your seat partner six times before finally settling down. There will not be a quick exchange of notes before class and there will not be any report days. That has all disappeared into deadlines, pay cheques and team management exercises.
But then again, my school days do not seem to be very similar to the ones I witness children having today. I am convinced that my school bag looked nowhere as enormous as they seem these days. I did not have computer classes until I was in class nine and there were no separate bags for library days and no proper PE kits. And most importantly, I did not have a tutor in class one!
I am amazed and appalled at six-year-olds going for tuitions after spending eight hours at school. At the most, I went to after-school extra-curricular classes. The lack of tutors in my life was not because I was a star student; it was because that ‘trend’ did not exist until recently. By the time we would get home from our long, dusty bus rides, we would be ready to pass out in front of the television or have an afternoon nap – not get ready for another few hours of learning.
As the buses zoom back and forth during the hot afternoons, I think it is perhaps a good thing I’ve left those days far behind.
—Shyema Sajjad
The teller machines
Withdrawing cash from automated teller machines (ATMs) has never been a very good experience for customers of the National Bank of Pakistan. But this past March was, somehow, like a nightmare. The frail network of the NBP’s One-Link suddenly died last month when the bank was reported to have disconnected it following the discovery of some wrongdoing.
Most of the customers are aware that the ATM service of the bank has never been close to satisfactory, let alone good or exemplary. While being a resident of Gulshan and having my bank account at my workplace on Dr Ziauddin Ahmed Road, I am aware of all the ATMs en route to my destination, including the single machine affixed at the NBP head office. My assumption that the head office machine must be functioning properly had long ago proved untrue. And yet the bank’s hierarchy seems least bothered about the bank’s image.
Since I am a frequent visitor to the ATMs, I have noticed certain habits of these machines. For instance the Saddar branch that has been recently shifted to the ground floor of Pakistan Ordnance Factory building opposite the Karachi Press Club is equipped with an automated teller machine which works only at will.
Sometimes coming from Defence I visit the Korangi Road branch’s ATM, which can be rated as the only efficient machine, but that too only sometimes.
The PIDC branch teller machine has a habit of not accepting the card. Meanwhile, there is an old and dusty machine at the Tariq Road branch. The grime on the teller machine cautions the client and tells him “don’t touch me.” The few attempts I have made have proved futile.
The machine at the Baloch Colony branch is infested with lizards. Whenever I endeavour to open the glass door in a bid to withdraw cash, the peace and tranquillity of the lizards gets badly disturbed and they angrily take cover behind the teller machine. With my frequent, often futile visits and after a few successful attempts I have drawn a conclusion that this treasure hunt involves all sorts of trap. And I will have to become accustomed to the lizards if I want to withdraw cash.—S. Raza Hassan
Compiled by Syed Hassan Ali
Email: karachian@dawn.com
Sir,
The aforementioned road is becoming infamous for street-crimes. Although a police station was established on this 4-km long stretch for the very same reason, the crime spree has not been fully checked in this particular area of North Nazimabad.
There is a need for at least three police check-posts just below the hills, (which were reserved for a big park by the city’s fathers) to be fully integrated with the main police station in controlling the street crimes. The State Bank building is also located on this road. Customers/commuters are looted daily in buses, cars and on motorbikes. The police station is unique as it covers a rather large area.
Because of the vastness of the area, the police station is incapable of controlling crimes. It also touches two towns – Site and Orangi.
A major reason is that as per policy, the police are not allowed to chase the criminals over the hilly side. Many times, it has been observed that a motorcycle or car, after committing a crime, speeds up towards the hills and the cops give up the chase. It has become a ‘no-go’ area for the past five or six years.
If some police officers venture there, they are bound to be reprimanded or transferred. If one could see the crime statistics, Shahrah-i-Noor Jehan has probably one of the highest ratios in Karachi. And if we include the unreported cases, it would become the highest in the country in street crimes.
Only this week, not far from my residence, a man was shot and killed in cold blood in a mobile phone snatching attempt. The next day, in a robbery attempt, a man was killed while his wife was seriously wounded.
In both cases, robbers ran up the hill and no law enforcement agency personnel dared to chase them, though not far from there a heavy presence of Rangers is stationed.
I hope the new police management would do something for this peaceful community.
KUNWAR KHALID YUNUS
SOS Karachi
Sir,
Being a resident of Karachi, I write this open letter to all countrymen requesting them to come forward and rescue us from this continuous process of terrorism and harassment.
The so-called representative party of Karachi has effectively failed to give any protection to us. Instead, they have invited leaders like Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and Arbab Rahim, who have failed to bring even a handful of people on the streets in their respective constituencies, to play havoc with the peace of the city.
It is startling that neither Mianwali nor Gujarat has erupted in violence: the ‘backlash’ is being faced by the citizens of Karachi, where the PML-Q is non-existent.
It shows that the so-called representatives have no sympathy for their own city and people, as they continue to support the masterminds of March 9 and May 12 a thousand kilometres away.
To those who are deluded, this city is not the individual property of any person or party, but of the citizens of Karachi belonging to all colours and shades living here from Pakistan and beyond.
SALMA KHALIL
Karachi
Message for PTCL
Sir,
I thank you for placing my complaint in Metro Mailbag on 18.2.2008. Surprisingly, the next day my phone number (021) 464-4336 woke up after a slumber of 70 days. While I was thinking of expressing my thanks to Dawn as well as the PTCL official concerned at the Gulzar-i-Hijri telephone exchange for providing the relief, the telephone line again fell dead within a week.
Since then I have lodged several complaints and my husband, a retired senior government officer, also visited the exchange. But to date, all efforts have been in vain.
Now I am left with no other choice except to say: “PTCL - disconnect it forever.”
Instead of facing more humiliation from the service provider, I have opted to get a wireless connection.
MRS R. SIDDIQUI
Gulzar-i-Hijri
Encroachment on Mauripur Road
Sir,
Illegal construction is under way on the main Mauripur Road, the road leading towards the Mauripur Air Force Base and on the right hand side towards Site.
On the left side of the main dual-carriage bridge, near
Gulbai intersection, a mosque is being built just beneath the bridge. Moreover, a gas cylinder depot has been set up.
The most alarming thing is that the illegal construction is raised over a gas line, the main supply line to Site and the PAF base and other localities on the Hub River Road.
This illegal structure should be the main concern of the Karachi Port Trust, the Pakistan Air Force, the CDGK, the Site administration and all the law enforcement agencies of the state. This is a most urgent matter in view of the present situation in the country, particularly in Karachi.
ABDUL QADER ISMAIL?
Via e-mail
Telephone dead – billing continues
Sir,
My telephone (021 462-0213) has been dead since Dec 15, 2007. I had complained several times but still the telephone is dead and I continue to receive monthly bills for line rent and ‘Pakistan Package’ charges.
I request the authorities concerned to take appropriate action in this regard. If the PTCL cannot restore the telephone, they should disconnect it permanently. Why do they keep billing for facilities which they are unable to provide?
SHAHBUDDIN A. SIDDIQUI
Gulistan-i-Jauhar
city@dawn.com
