Balochistan-Sindh water row

BALOCHISTAN is at the tail-end of the Indus River system and, hence, the last to receive canal water from the system. It has to depend on Sindh for its due share of water as per the 1991 accords. The water accord was unanimously signed by all parties. Balochistan’s share of water was more than the provincial government was able to use in the absence of basic infrastructure for bringing in more land under cultivation.

So, the additional water would be given to other provinces, mainly Sindh. At present, both the provincial governments of Sindh and Balochistan are locked in controversy over sharing water from the Indus source. The situation took an ugly turn when growers from Balochistan launched a massive protest against not getting the due share of canal water. Some of the big feudal lords are planning a general strike in the area to register their protest against the alleged discriminatory attitude of the Sindh irrigation department.

The landlords’ association and others are also planning to take the provincial government to task for failing to defend the interests of the people of Balochistan. “They are showing no interest in defending the water rights of this province. They want to remain in good books of the rulers in Sindh and at the federal level, ignoring the basic rights of the growers in this provinces,” a landowner at the tail-end of Kirthar Canal told this correspondent by telephone.

A former chief minister, who has sizable agriculture land in the Kirthar Canal command area, criticized the Sindh government for not releasing the due share of water to Balochistan. He was also annoyed with the provincial government for doing nothing about the rights of Balochistan.

Besides the growers and landowners with large holdings, the commoners are complaining that they are not getting water for drinking or for domestic use. These people are generally from the tail-end of the canal system. Generally, it is the growers and cultivators who complain about shortage of water in the Kirthar Canal. In the 1970s, Sindh and Balochistan would jointly operate the Kirthar Canal, which offtakes water from the Northwest Canal of the Sukkur Barrage.

During the days of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto the Sindh government had built the Saifullah Magsi Canal and separated the share of Sindh from Balochistan’s. The distributary was built at a place which is sarcastically called Garang, a sudden disruption or an artificial and steep fall obstructing the normal flow of the Kirthar Canal or its velocity downstream. It was a strange event.

The pro-establishment politicians in the Kirthar Canal command area put the entire blame on Mir Ghous Bakhsh Bizenjo for agreeing to construction of the Saifullah Magsi Canal and reducing the velocity of the canal downstream to a snail’s pace. It is a fact that the former governor was removed unceremoniously and the successor government was involved in sharing the water from the Kirthar Canal and construction of the Saifullah Magsi Canal irrigating land in the adjoining Sindh province.

Now, the people are claiming that the flow of canal water has improved following the remodelling and rehabilitation of the Kirthar Canal in the 1990s. The federal government, mainly the ministry of water and power, did help the provincial irrigation department to remodel the canal to ensure water to the people at the tail-end. Its share increased from 1,200 cusecs to 20,000 cusecs.

But the present crisis has created a serious dispute between the two provincial governments. Irrigation officials monitoring the Northwest Canal and the pond level of the Sukkur Barrage claim that the Sindh irrigation department is not releasing the legitimate share of water to Balochistan. Some of the more vocal elements cite the commitments of the Irsa (Indus River System Authority) chief that Balochistan would get the legitimate share of canal water despite the water shortage, lack of enough rains or the pond level of different water storage facilities.

Following the 1991 water accords, Balochistan was supposed to get 2,000 cusecs of water for the Kirthar Canal, downstream of Garang point of the Saifullah Magsi Canal. Balochistan had not been receiving the water till Friday last. Engineers responsible for monitoring the water at different stages confirmed to this scribe that there is some improvement in the downflow of water.

There is a fear among the growers and planners that cotton and paddy crops would be affected if Balochistan does not get its due share of water. There is already a 30 per cent shortfall in paddy plantation in the Kirthar Canal command area. On the other hand, the government may not achieve the target of getting 150,000 bales of pollution-free cotton from Balochistan this season if the province is denied water share from the Indus River system.

Balochistan was supposed to get 2,000 cusecs in the Kirthar Canal in the downstream of Garang. But the flow of water monitored just before Friday midnight showed that there was a flow of mere 860 cusecs in the Kirthar. Similarly, the flow of water in Pat Feeder was about 5,500 cusecs instead of 6,000 cusecs.

The canal was designed and remodelled to get an offtake of about 6,700 cusecs, and the Balochistan irrigation secretary had verified the flow of 6,700 cusecs when he had taken over the control of Pat Feeder from the Wapda project director after its completion. It is on record of the newspaper files that Balochistan is entitled to get 6,700 cusecs in the Pat Feeder. Although the designed capacity of Pat Feeder, after remodelling, is about 8,700 cusecs, it is supposed to irrigate hundreds of thousands of acres of additional land in the command area.

Balochistan has always come to the help of Sindh on the issue of water shortage. Thus, it jumped into Sindh’s bandwagon while opposing the Kalabagh dam project or development of other storage facilities upstream of the Indus River system. Whenever there was a problem, the provincial chief executive of Sindh would rush to Quetta and hold talks with his counterpart, seeking additional water from the Hub reservoir for Karachi, just to avert possible water riots.

Sindh has yet to pay billions of rupees for using the additional water from the Hub dam. On the contrary, the KWSB charged heavily from the consumers in Karachi while paying not a single penny to Balochistan.

Greater Thal Canal controversy

AMONG all the Seraiki parties, only the Pakistan Seraiki Party, led by Taj Muhammad Langah, is supporting the Greater Thal Canal project.

PSP had been part of the Pakistan Oppressed Nations Movement since its formation. But, the movement’s Seraikistan unit chairman Hameed Asghar Shaheen expelled PSP from Ponm over its stand on GTC and the referendum. PSP had opted to support the presidential referendum of April 30 last.

Matters came to a heed when an Islamabad-based NGO organized a seminar in Multan recently on the GTC project and invited Sindhi and Seraiki political leaders, intellectuals and journalists to express their viewpoint on the subject. Only the PSP spoke in favour of GTC. As expected, Sindhi delegates expressed resentment over the decision to go ahead with the project despite opposition.

Hameed Aghar Shaheen of the Seraikistan Qaumi Movement, M.A. Bhutta of the Seraiki National Party and Mansoor Karim Siyal of the Seraiki Qaumi Inqalabi Party were of the view that the demand of the Seraiki people was for a federating unit of their own.

Mr Siyal said it was rather astonishing that the Punjab establishment was imposing a Rs30 billion project on the Seraiki people. He said Thal had never been the part of the Indus delta and, therefore, irrigating it by depriving Sindhis of their share would be a sheer injustice.

Noted people of Thal, including Prof. Akram Mirani, Asholal Faqir, Ustad Ijaz and Mazhar Nawaz, said the limited success of the Thal canal that flowed through the lesser part of the desert called Thal Jhandi did not mean that GTC, which had to flow through the greater part of the desert called Thal Kalaan, would also work. They said the residents of Thal were happy with the natural pattern the desert offered to them. They said cattle rearing was their major occupation while in fall they just sprinkled the gram seed and got a rich crop without any effort.

A resident of Thal said if the Punjab establishment was so adamant to give the Seraiki area a gigantic project like GTC, it should also give lands in the command area to the people of Thal at the rate they were allotted to the civil and military bureaucracy and judges. “Will the Punjab bureaucracy like to surrender lands in favour of the locals?” he questioned.

Taj Langah later addressed a press conference and vowed to rename the Indus as ‘Seraiku’ river if the Sindhis kept on claiming sole proprietary rights on its water. This proved to be the last straw for Seraiki organizations which condemned Langah for what they called his growing fascist tendencies. They said the river Indus gave birth to one of the ancient civilizations in the history of mankind which had been attributed to its name.

In its rejoinder, PSP termed its critics ‘simple’ and socially backward. Though it claimed that no-one could expel PSP from Ponm, it mentioned in detail the party’s differences with the alliance’s leadership.

In recent times, PSP and its policies have been the subject of internal criticism as well. As a result, stalwarts like Aslam Rasoolpuri, Mehmood Nizami, Mansoor Karim Siyal, Abid Jhangla and Abdul Sattar Thahim have left the party.

Whether GTC is beneficial for the people of Thal is not clear but the controversy over it has landed Mr. Langah in hot waters of criticism.

The Sherpao factor

AFTAB Ahmad Khan Sherpao returned home, faced the NAB music and now he is home free. Last week he was in Islamabad holding a crowded press conference, meeting his workers and conferring with friends. He seems all set to launch his bid for the next parliament. His friends say he is prime ministerial material. Perhaps, being a Pushtoon politician and also, perhaps, because of the changing political realities across the Durand Line the powers that be may have already included him on the expanding list of prime ministerial candidates. But then he has an uphill task in front of him even if he is making a bid to enter the next parliament with any strength to be acknowledged as a leader of substance. Both the times, that he was elected chief minister of NWFP when the PPP was in power in the Centre after the 1988 and 1993 elections, it was certainly not a smooth sailing.

The second time he emerged as the leader of the house only after the then President Farooq Ahmad Khan Leghari had bent some constitutional clauses and removed Sabir Shah’s government. Even when his late brother Hayat Mohammad Khan Sherpao was the PPP supremo in NWFP, his following in the provincial assembly was largely coalitionary. This was when the Sherpaos were representing a mass national party in their province.

Now Aftab Ahmad Khan has his own PPP faction which, if one went by the past voting pattern in the Frontier, would mean that he would only be extracting his votes from the PPP vote bank weakening the PPP in the process but gaining nothing because on the face of it he is hardly in a position to make any dent in the vote banks of other parties like the ANP, the PML, which is largely intact in the NWFP and has gone with King’s Party, and the religious parties. Of course, he can make seat adjustments with the ANP and win more seats than his party’s strength today would yield him if he went alone. But then this would make him beholden to the ANP and Asfandyar Wali being a Pushtoon as well and seemingly closer to the various leadership factions emerging in Afghanistan would appear to the powers that be in Islamabad to be a more plausible prime ministerial candidate than Sherpao.

At best, Sherpao’s chances, therefore, appear brighter if he were to confine himself to the province. But he seems to have already made up his mind to give this slot to his son Sikander who had kept his party going during the period of his self-exile and incarceration. So, perhaps, he would, if at all that is possible, be part of a larger coalition at the Centre and, perhaps, get a cabinet slot. Or he may even join the opposition at the Centre which, too, is likely to be made up of a coalition of various parties.

However, before he sets his political sights, he should also see what Saleem Saifullah and Arbab Jehangir are upto in his province. The two almost match him in the art of political wheeling and dealing. Saleem already heads the formidable PML(Q) in his province. Arbab on the other hand is negotiating with all the three parties — the PPP, the PML(Q) and the ANP. He would, certainly, tip the scale in favour of any party that he would join.

Having said all this, let us now look how Sherpao and other political leaders like him, who seem to be acceptable to the present military regime as opposed to the leaders who belong to PPP and PML(N), are going to conduct their electioneering in the coming weeks and months leading up to the polling day. Each of them is going to announce his party’s manifesto in a couple of weeks. But more than the manifesto their crowd-pulling ability and their ability to force the multitude to go to the polling booths on the final day to vote for them would depend on what they would be saying at the election public meetings. If they succeed in creating the perception that they are simply members of the ‘B’ team of President Gen Pervez Musharraf who has already got himself elected for five years, it is hardly likely that the people in good numbers would come to hear them and, perhaps, would even feel no compulsion to go to the polling booth on the election day even if they fully supported these leaders because the leader of these leaders, Gen Musharraf, is already home safe and as such would see to it that what they want (the supporters) they would get even these leaders do not get elected.

Except for the ANP, the MQM and the religious parties all of whom have their own vote banks, leaders like Sherpao, Imran Khan, Farooq Leghari, Mian Azhar and his group, Ghinwa Bhutto and most others in the National Alliance will be vying for the floating anti-PPP and anti-PML(N) votes. If you listen to the leaders like Sherpao and Imran Khan such votes have gone up by the millions. Imran is actually expecting a 1970-like revolution in the country come October 2002. Sherpao also believes that both the mass parties have lost their support in Punjab and Sindh and even if they do seat adjustments they are going to be routed.

These leaders believe that the two mass parties lost the support of the masses because of the way they ruled the country during the 1990s.

They also seem to have convinced themselves that those cleared by the military government of corruption charges would be more acceptable to the masses than those who have not been. But they do not have a convincing answer when questioned on the case of Asif Ali Zardari. He has not been found guilty so far in any of the cases he has been tried for, still he has not been cleared even after over six years of incarceration.

The glaring inequity of Zardari’s case brings into question the claims of those leaders who were apprehended by the military government on corruption charges, tried and cleared by courts and then found criticising the politics of Benazir and Nawaz Sharif publicly or endorsing equally publicly the rule of the President.—Onlooker

Keep smiling, Colonel

I MUST apologise to Lt-Col Ghouse Mohiuddin (retired) from Karachi. The good colonel wrote to me on May 10 about one of my earlier pieces which appeared in Dawn on May 6. It was about an irate railway traveller whose train left him on the platform while he was trying to relieve himself.

Col Mohiuddin has sent me a copy of an article he wrote for this newspaper on July 10, 1981, titled “Clever Humour”. I found two stories in the article particularly funny. So I want to share them with you. The first goes like this:

An American is being shown ancestral portraits in a castle. The guide explains that this was Lord Henry who fought the (Spanish) Armada; this was Lord Humphrey who escaped with Bonnie Prince Charlie in women’s clothes, etc.

“And this”, says the guide, stopping before the largest portrait, “is Sir Gyles, the founder of the family.”

“What did he do?” asked the American.

“He was the founder of the family.”

“Yes, but what did he do in the daytime?”

And the second story runs like this:

“An Englishman in a locked compartment on a train without a toilet asks the American seat companion’s permission to relieve himself on a spread newspaper, which he then folds up and flings out of the window. The American who cannot avoid watching the entire procedure, lights up a long, black cigar to cover some of the faecal odour. “I say,” says the Englishman, “you know this isn’t a smoking compartment.” And then there is this one from a padre who once said, as cited by Col Mohiuddin, “just because I am fasting doesn’t mean that I cannot look at the menu.”

We have the following piece, also from the colonel’s old column:

“One of the earliest jokes is the tale told on the Emperor Agrippa who, observing a slave, was surprised to see that he was almost like the image of himself. “Ho there!” the Emperor cried, “slave, did your mother ever pass this way?”

“No, Sire, but my father did,” replied the slave. The colonel then concludes:

“In your column, you give biblical quotes from police constable Glass. You conclude: “Beware of the man who quotes too much and too often from the scriptures...”

And, the colonel’s own comments: “They always manage to take us for a ride. Cliches like ‘once bitten twice shy,’ ‘avoid making the same mistake twice’, etc., don’t reach the unwary. Also there are 70 million people, the younger half of the nation, growing up, waiting to be taken for a ride.” The colonel also gives me an unprintable joke he had heard sixty years ago as a young subaltern in a cavalry regiment. Well, it was meant for my personal manoranjan. Thank you very much Colonel Sahib. Keep smiling.

I AM in receipt of a letter from the Public Relations Officer to the Ombudsman, Punjab. Dated June 12. It says:

“I am directed to state that the Ombudsman, Punjab, Justice Sajjad Ahmad Sipra (retired), has highly appreciated your column (Dawn, June 10). You have highlighted the issue of old trees in a proper manner.

“It is submitted that the Ombudsman, Punjab, has also passed a detailed order for the protection of old trees in the Faletti’s Hotel, Lahore. The Ombudsman Punjab, desires that this important order may be brought to your notice.

“In compliance with the directive of the Ombudsman, Punjab, a copy of the order is being sent herewith for your information and perusal.”

I am grateful to the PRO to the Punjab Ombudsman. The order is titled:

“Complaint No: suo motu. No 14/2001 (SM NO 220/2001)

Complainants: Mrs Omar Kureshi and Mrs K. Abbasi.

“Agencies: The Forestry, Wildlife, Fisheries and Tourism Department, Environment Protection and Privatization Commission, Islamabad.

“Subject: Protection of trees in Faletti’s Hotel, Lahore.

“Dated: May 4, 2002.”

Now, in order to save on space, I have abbreviated the order which now reads:

“The Punjab Provincial Ombudsman has directed the Environmental Protection Agency, Punjab, and the Secretary, Forestry, Wildlife, Fisheries and Tourism, Punjab, to ensure the preservation of old trees at Faletti’s Hotel even after its sale by the Privatization Commission. The provincial Ombudsman passed the direction on a suo motu notice of a complaint filed by Mrs Omar Kureshi, a resident of Karachi, in 1998 to the then governor and chief minister of Punjab, seeking protection of trees at the Faletti’s, a number of which were over 100 years old.

“The Ombudsman recommended that a record of trees in the Faletti’s Hotel be prepared by the Forest Department in the presence of officials of the EPD and representatives of the buyers of the hotel. The prepared record would be retained with the three parties. Similarly, an official of the EPD or the Forest Department may be deputed to check the trees periodically for their protection. The Ombudsman also recommended that the EPA should take care of the trees when it is asked to issue a no-objection certificate for any project to be launched at the Faletti’s.”

The need for protecting the trees at the Faletti’s Hotel, the Ombudsman order said, was covered by Section 12 of the Pakistan Environmental Act, 1997, and a no-objection certificate was required from the EPD as and when any project was to be executed at the hotel.

The Privatization Commission had initiated the privatization process of the Faletti’s Hotel for the first time in 1998. However, the transaction could not be concluded owing to a dispute with the highest bidder. The process was re-initiated in September, 2001, but the bidding was postponed for an indefinite period. It was feared that the old trees at the Faletti’s having not only an aesthetic value but also a historical one as well would be cut down by the prospective buyer. The Privatization Commission was also directed by the office of the provincial ombudsman to specifically examine the incorporation of a clause in the auction sale-deed for the preservation and retention of the old trees by the purchaser (of the hotel).

Terror strikes again

REMEMBER dear fellow citizens, there was a time when this city was the most clean, quiet, law-abiding, hospitable in South Asia, at peace with itself and with the world. People from all corners of the subcontinent of infinite variety converged on it with hopes that were unfailingly fulfilled. Today it is the very reverse and getting more and more so.

When this point is made, the idea is not to spread melancholy, but to revive the self-esteem of the people who live here and would live here no matter how unlivable it might become. As the conservationists tell us “this is the only planet we have,” let us remind ourselves, this is the only city we have. Protect it, preserve it, conserve it, beautify it.

Feeble spirits are likely to over-react to Friday’s blast outside the US consulate-general. It was terrible. Our version of 9/11 was ‘5/8,’ Wednesday, May 8 morning when a suicide bomber bombed a bus outside the Sheraton Hotel. Not very long ago, in the very same locality Union Texas engineers were targeted. It is natural to suspect that a thread runs through these.

During the last so many years, the city has been going down and down. But let us be fair to Karachi. The first prime minister was victim of terror — not in Karachi. Not one of the so many Lashkars, Sipahs, Jaishs and has home or hole in Karachi. This city produces no drugs, no guns. Karo-kari is alien to this place. Bearing arms is not integral to the culture of this city’s vainglory.

Were it not a place offering peace and hope of prosperity, it would not be home to 13 million people. A substantial number of them come from their homes in the farthest corners of the country. More keep coming. This is Pakistan in a miniature, a magnified miniature. Here every element is recognizably prominent. Karachi has all the colours and shades of our national rainbow.

Much, indeed most, of the terror that is inflicted on this city and its people is the fallout from the three decades of conflict in neighbouring Afghanistan. We have dictator Zia to thank for it. The people of Karachi have no quarrel with anyone, be he French, British, American, or from any other place. The sophisticated blasts only confirm that our city has become the battle ground of proxy wars.

Karachi has had a taste of home-grown terror before this chapter of history came to be written. Field Marshal Ayub’s victory celebration returns to mind. Have we not gone through the “Operation Clean-up” of Nawaz Sharif, or of Gen Asif Nawaz? Still fresh and rankling in memory is Benazir’s interior minister Babar issuing shoot-at-sight orders to civil armed forces.

We have had more than our share of sectarian terror. Again, that was and remains a visitation from outside. Phenomenal mushrooming of the so-called Madaris is also an import. It is for the government and its eyes and ears to find out why this city has had more Afghan refugees and waifs and strays than any other much closer to the Afghan border.

This brings us to the central point. Why must this city be made the receptacle to literally dump the overflow of elements difficult or impossible to manage? On the peace and tranquillity in this city so heavily depends the lifestream of the economy of this country. Karachi’s social health ought to be the concern of every sensible citizen of Pakistan anywhere.

The wherewithal to contain and combat the kind of 21st century terror facing this city is woefully inadequate. Alarmingly low is the quality of the law- enforcement apparatus. For years perverse political considerations have led to the induction of dubious elements into the police ranks. Now Karachi needs a police force double in strength and twice as efficient.

After last Friday’s experience the city is definitely shaken. Since our ‘5/8,’ the outflow of foreigners has become a torrent. No wonder. Imagine the effect of this exodus on investment prospects and the consequent shocks and jolts to the entire national economy. The month of May saw 13,500 foreigners leave Pakistan in a huff. Easily a record.

Even more lamentable is the fact that a very large number of Pakistanis (holding dual citizenship) moved out. This should be profoundly disquieting to us as citizens, and to the government no less. In one day alone (last Saturday) the number of Pakistanis saying goodbye to their homeland stood at 1,450. This fact is more painful than the departure of foreigners.

This is a sombre moment. Never experienced anything like it in more than half a century of Pakistan. Those who have claimed to be the authors of last Friday’s Armageddon in Karachi have promised more of the same. There is no overwhelming reason to take them at their word, nor is there much to reject their warning as an empty boast or dismiss it as a hoax.

To be wise after the event definitely has a sad aspect to such wisdom. We are paying for our hospitality to domestic extremism. The signal from our side should say that we would rather there was well-meaning truce and then peace. Terror breeds terror. It’s an ill wind that blows no one any good. It only stains the cause with the blood of the innocent. Not the most sublime way to protest. Could it be the Islamic way?

Tense moments

It must have been a few minutes past eleven in the morning. I was watching a re-run of last night’s Tonight Show while eating breakfast when the phone rang and an SMS came on my cell. Both were from friends who said that they had just heard a very loud blast-like sound.

The friend on the phone said: “Did you hear that?” I hadn’t, to tell the truth, but probably because my window was closed. The friend who sent me an SMS said that his house had been shaken and some windows, though not broken, were rattled. Both friends live in Phase II while I live in Phase VI so perhaps that’s why I heard nothing.

In any case, just to check, I made some calls to a newspaper office and was told that a bomb had reportedly exploded somewhere near the Metropole hotel. Random thoughts crossed my mind. Now, who in their right mind, would ever want to visit Karachi after this? What’s going to happen to the poor PCB? And, down goes the drain, yet again, the image of Pakistan abroad.

Soon, several other people messaged me on the cell. A couple asked whether the blast had targeted the American consulate next to the Marriott. I was hoping (against hope) that this probably wasn’t the case. But given the intensity of the explosion, and that (according to a friend) it was heard as far away as Dawood Colony and shattered windows of flats in Askari Apartments, it was probably going to be a massive one. And if it happened outside the Marriott or the consulate at 11 in the morning, just imagine the destruction and panic it would have caused. Eleven a.m. is generally rush hour and dozens of cars must have been passing through when the bomb exploded.

This is a route many of us in Karachi use all the time, to go to work, to go out to dinner, or to Sindh Club or Gymkhana or, like I do every Sunday afternoon, to go to Rainbow Centre. In the space of just a little under five weeks two massive bomb blasts have rocked roads in the city that thousands of us use every day — a most disconcerting fact if there ever was one. For the initial couple of hours or so, until more details emerged, I was quite tense hoping that no one I knew was driving by the consulate at that time. Those behind this horrible act — apparently a previously unknown group Al Qanoon has come forward and claimed responsibility - ended up killing policemen and Frontier Constabulary personnel posted at the consulate and several other people passing by, including four women travelling in a car owned by a driving school.

The expected happened soon after, with the Americans announcing that all their diplomatic missions in Pakistan were being immediately closed for the time being. However, this is hardly the sort of support one would expect from an ally in the so-called ‘war against terror’, and it achieves precisely what the terrorists would want.

A fiery young woman, infuriated by slipping standards on the innovative Metrobus service, decided one day that enough was enough. Boarding the bus from near her home in Malir, the woman soon noticed that the air-conditioning on the coach was not functioning. This was not the first time this had happened to her. In the past, she had simply complained, stopped the bus, alighted and taken the next bus. Recently, however, her patience ran out and she decided to take more direct action.

Soon after getting on board and paying substantially more than the normal fare for the privilege of sitting in an air-conditioned bus, she realized that the AC had conked out once again. With the windows permanently sealed and the temperature hitting 40 degrees, the atmosphere aboard the bus was truly unbearable. The woman stood up and loudly protested to the conductor and driver and demanded a refund. When they refused, she kicked up a fuss and slowly managed to shame many of her fellow passengers into joining in the protest. One gentleman on board, meanwhile, managed to contact the Metrobus office to lodge his complaint, but the person at the other end asked him to call after an hour and a half.

Furious at this rebuff, the woman demanded the keys to the bus and said she would not allow it to move unless she was given a refund and the recurring air conditioning problem rectified. The driver refused and the lady persisted. She made an impassioned speech to the other passengers and told them that because of their docility, the civic agencies take advantage of them and continue to provide shoddy services.

She then snatched the key from the driver who begged her to return it. She said that he could come to her office to fetch the key later and began to walk away. The driver and conductor followed her and beseeched her to return the key. After much cajoling she gave in but not before teaching them a lesson. One can only hope that this encounter with the stroppy lady, who was after all just demanding what was her right, will obviously make an impression on the staff of the bus who are bound to report the incident to their management. If only more people would stand up and be counted when they are at the receiving end of poor services, they would see an improvement in the city’s appalling public transport system

Finding a place to park your car can be a big hassle around commercial buildings and office blocks. A colleague who faces this problem says that a group of boys on Talpur and I I Chundrigar roads have become self-appointed parking attendants and car washers serving dozens of offices in the neighbourhood.

The colleague says that the boys expect to be paid between Rs. 10 and 20 for their services which include washing the cars, albeit with dirty water. The other problem, according to her, is that you have to leave your keys with them, something that would never happen in a regular parking lot. However, if you insist on not leaving your keys that’s okay too, but that might mean that your car might end up being boxed in and impossible to take out when you return to leave.

Recently, the colleague saw the following scene outside the National Bank head office building on Talpur Road. While trying to reverse, one of the valets forgot to close the car door. The door hit another car’s bumper and got awkwardly turned in the other direction, but did not break. However, since it was turned the wrong way there was no chance that it would close properly. Surely, the owner must have not been all that pleased when he returned to get his car back.

Many things are taken for granted here. The sights and activities offered by the Karachi coast, for one, have not been put to optimum use by the country’s tourism authorities.

But at long last, someone has taken the initiative to capitalise on the geographical resources and show Karachiites a new way of having a good time. This entails partying on a boat which leaves the pier at the Carlton Hotel every weekend. The boat — not quite rickety as those that one goes crabbing on — is a humbler version of a yacht. It has a seating capacity of 20, a small crew and a powerful motor. The seats, cushioned with blue leathery fabric, were at the front of the boat providing a view of the Arabian sea.

A friend who has been on the boat says that late evening and night-time trips are recommended as the weather is at its best. Advertised in daily newspapers this expedition does not come cheap and can set you back a thousand rupees per head, but little doubt that it does provide a novel way of spending an evening during the warm and humid summer months. One of the rarities that this trip offers is the ride back home on a much smaller boat, if people want to leave early. The friend said that she saw little fish jumping out of the water and into the boat or around it on her way back. Quite an enthralling sight given that despite the fact that being a coastal city people here have little exposure to marine life in its natural habitat other than on National Geographic and the Discovery channels.— By Karachian