KARACHI: Concerned and res­pon­sible citizens of Karachi came together for a panel discussion on the Karachi situation organised by Piler at T2F here on Friday.

Architect, town planner and founder chairman of the Urban Resource Centre Arif Hasan, executive director of the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research Karamat Ali, founder director of The Second Floor Sabeen Mahmud and youth activists from different parts of Karachi participated in the discussion.

Briefing the attendees about the broader issues of Karachi, Zenia Shaukat of Piler said that Karachi was a city of migrants that over the years had seen many changes in demographics.

Among the major problems here were the growing size of households and the insufficient size of houses, bad transport system, lack of capacity in the city in generating income for itself, disconnect between government organisations, a dysfunctional state where the police instead of doing their job had to be present during board exams or to protect polio vaccine teams, the lessening of landmarks, unsafe and unfriendly city for women, etc, the speaker said.

Agreeing that these were just too many issues, architect and town planner Arif Hasan said that one would have to see, when dealing with all this, as to what was the biggest necessity here and added that several issues mentioned were interlinked.

“Transport is an issue linked to land and housing and all are linked to the set-up, which falls on the government,” he said.

Speaking about laws and systems that could help improve matters, he said the Sindh Tenancy Board Act had nine politicians as its members and the Sindh Special Development Board Act had 25 members. “The nine politicians working under the Sindh Tenacy Board Act can densify any plot. So they can raise a seven-storey or a 70-storey building on a plot. Well even if we ignore the water and sanitation infrastructure there, what about the parking?” he said.

“Under the Sindh Development Board Act, its 25 or so members are responsible for provision of schools, hospitals, etc, near populations but that is also not happening the way it should have,” he added.

Another thing that has started happening now, according to Mr Hasan, is foreign companies coming in to manage cities. “There is talk of Turkish or German companies coming here but, realistically speaking, such development can happen in affluent areas. And with that the divide between people of various areas and classes will increase,” he said.

Sabeen Mahmud of T2F spoke of creating a counter-narrative in this ‘dysfunctional’ city.

“We can do it through art and culture. T2F for one is a source model of a place where you can come over and discuss all kinds of issues. There is also the Arts Council, Frere Hall, parks, etc, to get together and ponder over matters,” she said. “And all this can be done without waiting for funding. You don’t need funding to collect for a cause. Don’t complain and come forward to show what you are doing for art and culture. We may not be able to solve or fix what the state is not doing. But we can respond to things around us in an artistic and cultural way so let’s do it,” she added.

Karamat Ali of Piler said that Karachi was not an isolated place, it was a mini Pakistan and what people see here said a lot about the entire country. “You see a bus with passengers on its roof, but you have become so used to it that you are no longer surprised by it. This is how we no longer want to resolve conflicts, we just bury them,” he said.

“Before 1947 Karachi had a Hindu majority, then it had a Sindhi majority, and so on but if you look carefully this city has a majority of working-class citizens. Unfortunately, we have wrapped up our trade unions and student unions bringing in an anti-worker mindset. There is no interaction between different classes. The poor are viewed as thieves, etc. But this has to change and community interaction is needed for that to happen,” he said.

Azeem Ahmed, a student from Lyari, said that he had a spinal cord injury some three years ago that left him confined to a wheelchair.

“But that hasn’t stopped me from getting out and meeting people,” he said. “I go everywhere and meet everyone. Similarly, I wish that other people would also come to my area to see what the youth of Lyari are all about. Lyari’s youth have immense talent but they hardly get any chance to show their talent to the world,” he said.

Published in Dawn, February 14th, 2015

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