Karachi as formerly known as Kolachi was the capital of Pakistan. Soon that changed and Islamabad was given the honour of being Pakistan’s capital city. Karachi is still the largest city of Pakistan having more than 20 million people currently living there. Karachi is a metropolitan, filled with people who belong to different sects, religions and ethnicities etc. With so many diverse inhabitants in one place there are bound to be conflicts.
Keeping the conflict story on one side. If some light is shed on an average Karachiti’s life, a lot of problems become quite clearer. He or she gets up in the morning in order to get ready for work or some other task awaiting him or her. Water is scarce and so the lucky ones have enough to take a bath while the rest just have to make do with the little they have. If by some miracle gas is available then the person makes breakfast for him or herself and then proceeds to the bus station to look for a ride to his or her place of work. Soon the bus arrives and the person somehow adjusts and makes room for himself in the already jam packed vehicle.
While the people who stay home, get just a few hours of electricity to tend to their tasks. And the whole routine is continued on the next day.
The authority figures in Karachi may be in hiding or they are too afraid to do their jobs because even the bare necessities in the city have gone rogue. The question arises, who is responsible for these adverse conditions and who is going to fix it?
Open the faucet and you are provided with a very limited amount or even no water. There is barely any gas available. The transport system is in a terrible state. Electricity is barely running. Where is the government? It can be concluded that all the authority is in the hands of some private sector that is only after increasing profit margins.
A crude definition of politics can be reviewed for the purpose of finding the person who is in power.
The activities associated with the governance of a country or area, especially the debate between parties having power.
Which parties? And who is debating, does the ordinary man have some say in these? The questions keep on increasing but there is no answer.
Karachi is the mafia’s playground now. If you want anything done, you have to contact these so called special interest groups. The common man first has to negotiate with these people who in turn then make deals and manipulate politicians and government officials to do something
The main dilemma is that does the ordinary man, who utilizes and needs those facilities, have any say in how they should be run. Let’s take the transport system as an example. Karachi used to have a city runned transport system. With the passage of time the city thought that it would be better if the organization is privatized. Did the people who used that service have any say in the matter? . No.
The same scenario applies to security, healthcare, power supply, education, water and land.
The common man has no say or participation in how his or her life necessities will be handled. All they have to do is cast their vote (if elections are held) for someone they consider as lesser evil and that is the end of their participation.
This weakened relationship between the people and their rulers has many adverse effects and this is quite visible in the current poor state of Karachi.
