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The fear that has gripped the city over the last few months is taking its toll on the citizens. Already struggling to make ends meet with raising inflation, the deteriorating law and order situation has just compounded their misery. With tortured bodies being found in gunny bags, the city seems to be grappling to hold on to whatever little humanity is left.
“We know who is doing this, stealing our sons and killing them like this. And we also know why the government is not doing anything about this,” said Sana (not her real name), a burqa clad woman in her thirties. “I fail to understand why people are watching this as the world falls around us,” she said.
Having lost her son, Aasiya (not her real name) is one of the victims of the recent spate of target killings. When asked to comment about the happenings in Karachi, she out rightly refused to talk and pleaded not to say anything to anyone.
For these two women, the pain and fear is crippling as their worst fears have become reality. While the government and the law enforcement agencies seem to be no more than silent spectators, with the political leaders more than happy to indulge in blame games on TV, what is saddening is the silence of the masses. However, many feel that things will get better if we do away with the policy of silence and stand up.
“We watch seasoned politicians from all parties indulge in blame games on TV but how many of them really feel for this country?” questions Jehan Ara, an entrepreneur from Karachi. She believes that they appear to be feeding their own personal agendas and show no sincerity in their actions or their words. “But whatever is happening here is our own fault. We have allowed it to happen.”
Most professionals and concerned citizens believe that the time to resolve the situation through dialogue between political parties has long past. Mobisher Rabbani, a lawyer and philanthropist, believes that the police is highly politicised and they should be disbanded. “Equal number of Rangers, FC or even army should be brought in under the sole command of a highly competent individual who is only answerable to the PM.” He further says that this needs to be done soon in order to bring relief.
Citizens don’t seem to be able to combat the parties in weapons. Many concerned citizens believe the only thing that’s left to be done is sit outside the Sindh High court, PM House, Governor House, City Press Clubs and even Corps Commander's offices.
“We need to wake up, not wait for a miracle. The Egyptian revolution wasn't a miracle. They paid a price for it. So did Tunisia. And we know Libya paid a heavy price,” argues Fahad Faruqui, a journalist. He has recently returned to Pakistan after a long sojourn in Egypt. Faruqui saw Tahrir Square, with protesters from all walks of life demonstrating against the corrupt allies of former president Hosni Mubarak.He marvels at how the Egyptian people "remained peaceful yet passionate." However, what seems to disturb him most is the vicious corruption in the Pakistani system and the lack of people’s understanding when it comes to Karachi.
“Politicians are known to act like tyrants to cling to power. Sheer gluttony! Tunisians, Egyptians and Libyans have paid a price for freedom, so did our forefathers during the partition. As Pakistanis, we can either stay mute to this butchery (in the true sense of the word) of innocent people or act towards bringing a positive change--just like those adamant yet peaceful protesters in Tahrir Square. They had no secret formula to attain justice, but they had the conviction to change their state of affairs. Moving forward, we--as a nation--need to evaluate our priorities and then act upon it with conviction.”
A young political activist, Imran Ghazali shares a similar view and believes that the present state of affairs is the result of fake democracy “where 45 per cent of the votes were termed bogus.” He wants the youth to play a positive role “The only solution I see is that the citizens of Karachi have to stand up against it. We all can live together. Every night I sit at the dhabba, have tea with friends who are followers of different ideologies from MQM to ANP to PTI to PPP. We must learn to respect others opinions. We must try to become human beings”.
People need to stop waiting and face their fears, as the leadership is not skilled enough to attend to their problems. Leadership scarcity you may want to call it, but clearly the real problem with Karachi could be in the fact that it is the city without a leader.
As George Fulton, a journalist reminds us about the immense and excessive talk about decentralisation lately in the media. “Karachi is a prime example of the urgent need for such decentralisation away from Islamabad. Karachi needs a mayor with real power: power to hire and fire the police, power to tackle gang culture and ethnic rivalries and power to govern the city in a crisis. Karachi's violence has been allowed to spread due to this power vacuum,” he said offering a possible solution.
The writer is a freelance journalist.
