KARACHI: Experts looked at the challenges and prospects for population and development in Sindh at a seminar on ‘Internal migration and urbanisation’ conducted by the Migration Research Group (MRG) in conjunction with the United Nations Fund Population Activities (UNFPA), the Directorate of Urban Policy & Strategic Planning (DUPSP), and the government of Sindh at the Karachi Institute of Technology and Entrepreneurship (KITE) here on Wednesday. In her paper on ‘Migration and urban contributions and challenges faced by small communities in Karachi: case study on migrants to urban areas’, Rashida Valika, an assistant professor at KITE, pointed out that “there are just 1,800 Parsis in this city of 22 million people of which 60 per cent were above the age of 60 years. This is because over the last five to eight years, young Parsis are leaving this country for Australia, Canada and the US leaving behind their aged parents.”

About the Parsi people, she said that they were an affluent community with 100pc literacy rate. “They are also known to have a lifespan of about 90 years. There are nine residential Parsi colonies in Karachi. Besides, some 400 also live elsewhere. Still, they are like a drop in the ocean in this mega city.

“And the two big reasons for their leaving Pakistan is the political and security situation,” she said before going on to name some famous Parsis such as Jehangir Kothari, Jamshed Nusserwanjee, Sunno Golwala, etc.

“Jehangir Kothari was knighted in 1921 after he gave away his lofty residence and the land around it to the Karachi Municipal Corporation for the Clifton project.

“Nusserwanjee, as we know, was the mayor and soul of Karachi. Sunno Golwala created the Sopariwala Endowment of Aga Khan University Hospital and all he wanted in return was best healthcare for the people. Sadly, the Parsis who have made page after page of contributions to health and education here are an endangered species in Pakistan now,” she concluded.

While reading his paper on ‘Internal migration in relation to poverty, marginality and vulnerabilities in Sindh: need for rethinking and focused research, Prof Sikander Mehdi, KITE’s registrar, said: “We need to concentrate on people’s needs because behind the statistics and numbers are real human beings. Go to meet them and learn of their experiences. When you do that your entire perspective will change.”

Mudassir Iqbal, director general of the Directorate of UP & SP, made a presentation on ‘Urban development strategies for secondary cities of Sindh’. “The problem with Karachi is that it doesn’t have a big neighbouring city so the people come here and stay on,” he observed.

Haris Gazdar, director at Collective for Social Science Research, read a paper on ‘The size of settlement and urbanisation in Sindh’. He said: “Rural to urban migration is one route to urbanisation. Another one is the increase in size and change in complexity of small rural settlements,” he said.

Assistant professor at the Department of Architecture and Planning at the NED University, Prof Ravinder Kumar, gave a presentation on ‘Evaluating the nature of internal migration and physical impact of urbanisation in secondary cities of Sindh.’

“According to economic theory, individuals migrate from low income to high income areas to maximise their earnings. Migration is an approach adopted by rural populations to improve family livelihoods and benefit from better services in urban areas.

“Rural migrants with education and skills are often more likely to do well in urban areas. Many rapidly-expanding Asian economies have seen increases in the rate of internal migration over the past two decades because of increased opportunities in urban areas,” he said.

Earlier, architect and town planner, Arif Hasan and professor of Public Policy at George Mason University and president of KITE, Dr Mehtab S. Karim gave the keynote addresses.

Arif Hasan provided evidence and analysis of internal migration and urbanisation in Sindh. “Looking at Karachi’s 9.8 million population in 1998 that grew to 21.5 million in 2011, it can be safely said that Karachi is the fastest growing city in the world. But it has issues of density, lack of facilities, etc., due to lack of planning,” he said. Meanwhile, Dr Karim provided evidence from the censuses.

Other speakers included Prof Akhtar Baloch of the Department of Public Administration at the University of Karachi, Prof Sarfraz Korejo of Shah Abdul Latif University, Khairpur, and Farhan Anwar, executive director at Sustainable Initiatives.