In the massive, overburdened metropolis of Karachi, millions of ordinary citizens struggle to survive. The hardships are too numerous to list adequately: a fragile law and order system presided over by a mercenary police force, a corrupt provincial government growing fat and rich while impoverished citizens labor tirelessly for salaries that ought to be illegal in the 21st century with almost zero basic services provided to them – not healthcare, not education, not even potable water. Last April, two children in Karachi’s northern district of Nazimabad died from drinking water that was so polluted it was contaminated with worms “that could be seen with the naked eye.” Experts later classified the water as turbid, so filthy that even chlorine tablets were ineffective in rendering it drinkable.
Karachi, my hometown, is an urban mess run by gangsters and thugs if it runs at all. Cruelty is endemic to the city. Though it is an ethnically diverse city, more than any other in Pakistan, minorities have suffered here. A violent campaign saw Shia Muslims assassinated in the 1990s. Ethnic Pathans from Northern Pakistan or refugees from Afghanistan are often set upon by political parties even though they make up an integral part of the city and survive in neighborhoods without even the minimum of public services. ….more