IN late March of this year, we heard an angry Chief Justice of Pakistan order the relevant authorities to ensure that the garbage in Karachi was removed in a week. After this ultimatum we saw a quick picking up of most of the trash piles that were to be seen from different areas of the city.

Of late I have been noticing that there are rising mounds of trash being dumped on government sites, but on roundabouts, u-turns and road sides, so that the garbage collecting trucks can pick them up, which, by the way, don’t even show up most of the time, causing litter to be strewn about on the streets.

The irony is laughable. The open areas of a city should be beautified and adorned with statues and sculptures. Unfortunately in Karachi, such spaces are used to stash trash.

I ask the authorities to take notice.

Sarah Afzal
Karachi

Published in Dawn, November 9th, 2018