POLICE in the capital city recently removed graffiti glorifying the self-styled Islamic State from the walls of buildings in an area where schools are located.

Patrols will now be enhanced to ensure that the wall-chalking does not reappear in the vicinity. In fact, the menace of graffiti is very widespread and a big problem in Pakistani cities and a more energetic approach is required to tackle it.

Take a look: Karachi's walls have become a canvas for spreading political, social and religious messages.

Political graffiti appears on the walls of historical buildings, while posters of electoral candidates are pasted on national monuments too. More insidiously, hate messages are scribbled on walls in large localities in Karachi, and towns across Punjab.

The seeming impunity with which these messages are scribbled on the walls shows that they are not considered a big enough menace by law-enforcement or the local administration.

Quite apart from desecrating national monuments and historic sites, hate messages along sectarian lines or glorifying groups involved in large-scale atrocities should be a special target for erasure.

Yet thus far we have not witnessed any systematic effort to discourage those who insist on scribbling these messages in public places.

The police in Sector H-9 of Islamabad have done the right thing in promptly painting over the graffiti and enhancing patrols in the area to ensure that it does not recur. But much more needs to be done in towns across Punjab — and in Karachi where last year the Sindh Assembly passed a law against the defacement of public and private property, stipulating punishment for the offenders.

The local authorities, including the police and city administration, must play a more vigilant role to erase graffiti promptly, and apprehend those responsible for putting up these messages.

The political parties can lead the way by mounting a strong campaign internally to dissuade electoral hopefuls and other political players from using public walls and national monuments as display areas for their messages and slogans. Meanwhile, keeping hate off our walls will help keep it out of our minds.

Published in Dawn March 3rd , 2015

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