“IT was the best of times, it was the worst of times”. These are the opening lines of Charles Dickens’s novel A Tale of Two Cities, set in London and Paris before and during the French revolution. You must all wonder why I refer to this tale. It is a reflection of my own city Karachi, which has had its reign of terror in the past two decades. It has lived its misery in cold-blooded murders by the thousands, broken roads, overflowing gutters, water mafias and ugly billboards. It has shown valour in spite of hundreds of bomb blasts, deaths, crime, ethnic turmoil and scarce water on electricity.

Now at last we seem to be moving to the best of times. For the first time in decades, this city is blessed with two energetic, non-controverisal leaders – the governor and the chief minister.

Karachi’s cleanup was the CM’s first step and we all stand witness to Karachi looking much cleaner. We thank him for making us feel good. Within days of his takeover, the CM was in Lahore to discuss, take advice and look over the new plans being discussed and implemented in Punjab.

As for the governor, I have had the privilege of knowing him since college, well over the past 45 years. He is an IBA MBA graduate with a vast experience in a multi-national organisation holding top posts in different countries. His great assets are his ability to make quick decisions.

We are positive this combination will do wonders for our city. We want our roads to be clean, water to be distributed through pipelines and not by the water mafia, we want sprouting water fountains and not overflowing gutters; encroachment-free car parking, trained traffic wardens and a proper garbage disposal system instead of roads as dumping stations. In short, we want our city clean and habitable like most mega cities in the world.

Sher Asfandyar

Karachi

Published in Dawn, May 30th, 2017