IT WAS President General Pervez Musharraf’s suggestion, or rather directive, that those who govern (or misgovern) should make an all-out effort to project what he terms a ‘soft image’ of Pakistan, a country which for far too long, and with a fair amount of justification, has presented a hard fundamentalist face to the world outside.

His prime minister, Shaukat Aziz, has gamely complied and has set about building what he thinks to be a ‘soft image’ to counter the world’s perception of his country. His other ministers of sorts, some of whom are known to be corrupt, have more than gamely obliged. The gamekeepers, however, do not realize that the very word ‘image’ has little to do with reality.

It seems that when our politicians set forth on the trail of a ‘soft image’ they invariably manage to mess things up. Shaukat Aziz is very much into building up a soft image by constructing big buildings and high towers — his ambition stretches to having here in Karachi the highest tower in the world. As far as this city is concerned, he feels our building laws are antiquated.

He reportedly wishes to have a huge 50-storey building put up on the vacant plot next to the Sheraton Hotel which at the moment is used as a parking lot and the grandiose plans extend to the coast and its skyline, which he would like transformed into Manhattan. His ministers have been busy rounding up sacrificial goats to bolster the scheme. Not only is a long string of huge buildings planned to be built along the polluted seashore, Federal Communications Minister Babar Ghori’s vision of a soft image extends to implanting a jet d’eau out in the murky seas in the vicinity of Oyster Rocks.

(‘Water, water, everywhere and not a drop to drink.....’. Is the prime minister aware that his administration has fostered a new and imaginative means of earning? In Karachi, water-vendors at bus stops sell to the thirsty glasses of disease-generating water for one rupee per glass.)

No honest and clean body, organization or individual should, though the fault not be its own, allow itself, even unwittingly, to be used to fulfil the government’s desire to have an imposing coastal skyline of unbroken highrises and commercial complexes which will necessarily involve the builder-developer mafia of the city.

The federal and Sindh governments have already strangely favoured the builders and developers of Karachi, that mafia so well-schooled in scams, by directing that all the illegal and unlawful constructions that have mushroomed in the city over the past decade, many of which have stay orders against them issued by the High Court of Sindh preventing their further construction, be allowed to be completed on the payment of a ‘regularization’ fee which would bring into the Sindh exchequer much needed funds. It was a lethal scheme, as far as the environment of the city and the safety of its citizens are concerned.

The building of highrises and commercial complexes in Karachi has, since the mania started many years ago, invariably involved scams, and massive scams at that. All one has to do to check this out is to count the number of unfinished and uncompleted buildings that litter the city from end to end, and then visit the high court to dig out the number of cases filed by affected citizens and NGOs against the illegalities committed by the mafia in cahoots with the Karachi Building Control Authority. SHEHRI (the NGO) can produce an enormous list — they are uncountable.

No honest person or organization should ever be involved with the building fraternity of Karachi, aided or unaided by foreign funds, for whenever the planned construction of a highrise or commercial complex is raised, it unfailingly brings to mind a potential scam. Any organization, by associating itself in the massive construction plans of the federal and provincial governments, merely opens itself up to be accused, rightly or wrongly, of being a party to a scam. Wise advice is to have nothing to do with the construction business and to keep far away from any involvement in the transformation of Karachi’s skyline, which our politicians are trying to project as a ‘soft image’.

In a developing country, violent and chaotic, grand buildings, high towers and palaces are no substitute for the enforcement of law and order or for good governance. The raising of architectural monstrosities has throughout history been a ploy used by the worst of crumbling dictatorships, oligarchies, emperors and so forth to project an ‘image’ of a mighty and flourishing regime. It has never worked.

Right now, with all these publicized development plans, plot grabbers all over the city are on the prowl, and forged documents and files are prepared and presented in our courts.

To take one instance : on the afternoon of Sunday, May 29, a tent was pitched on the vacant portion of plot No.11 Survey Sheet FT1 on Framroze Road in Frere Town Quarter. Two guards were posted to guard the property, the plot, which they claimed belonged to a certain ‘Mr Yousufzai’ whose cell number they gave as 0300-9201477. The plot in fact belongs to the State Life Insurance Corporation of Pakistan. A vigilant SLIC officer living nearby rang up ‘Mr Yousufzai’ on the cell number to inform him that the plot was owned by SLIC, that his men in their tent were trespassing and they should remove themselves forthwith.

‘Mr Yousufzai’s’ response was to suggest to the officer not to interfere, that it would prove dangerous for him, that he would be subjected to ‘dire consequences,’ and switched off.

The police were informed. They asked to be shown the original ownership documents (on a Sunday!). One of the SLIC men on the scene knew one of our ‘high-up’ policemen, and the guards with their tent were removed. On Monday May 30, SLIC filed a complaint at the Boat Basin police station, but nothing has since been heard. Had the legitimate owner not had access to a ‘high up’ the tent and guards would still be on the plot and he would probably have found himself in court facing claimant ‘Mr Yousufzai’.

The questions now are : Will ‘Mr Yousufzai be found, and if found will he be arrested and then punished? The answer to all is simple. Citizens beware! The law, these days, as it has been for far too long, is on the side of the land grabbers and extortionists. The reasons are many, and well known, and the courts are generally helpless.

The building affairs of this city, including all the great development plans for the seashore and inland, are ostensibly in the hands of a front-man put in charge of the Karachi Building Control Authority by the men who control this city, the governor and the provincial ministers.

In August last year, the Sindh High Court ruled that this authority suffers from maladministration (corruption and whatever) and ordered the provincial ombudsman to investigate and report. The honourable ombudsman is still investigating. It might be a good idea for these investigations to be completed before the transformation of the coastal line is undertaken, which will give even more scope for maladministration to the city’s building bosses.

A plethora of tall monstrous buildings compensate for nothing in a country riddled with poverty, sectarian strife, mob violence, arson, and uncertainty.

E-mail: arfc@cyber.net.pk