ONCE called the City of Lights, Karachi now suffers from frequent and prolonged power failures like many other cities in the country. As Karachi operates 75 per cent of the country’s industry, the frequent loadsheddings cause a huge loss to industrial production. This sets off a chain of losses in terms of social and economic welfare of the hands employed in factories etc.

Also, all normal human activities at home and offices, including educational institutions, come to a grinding halt.

The loss the frequent outages cause is immeasurable. There is little likelihood that the power situation would improve in the foreseeable future, though the upcoming government has hinted at the possibility of overcoming the power problem in two to three years.

To add insult to injury, a new kind of darkness has descended on Karachi with rising incidents of bomb explosions and targeted killings. This is becoming a serious issue. People do not move out of their homes unless it is essential. They are being deprived of recreation and social life as there is not much that they themselves can do to control or combat this gory problem.

It is the duty of security and law-enforcement agencies to keep target killers and bombers in check. Our security forces lack the ability to pre-empt and control such unforeseen events.

At times they themselves fall victim to attacks by terrorists. There is no telling when and how these extremists plan and carry out an attack.

Although there is not enough security forces that can handle all areas at the same time, they can still use a proper strategy to tackle this issue. Sadly, nothing is done and the city will further lose its liveliness.

RAMSHA SAIF Karachi