Here is a letter I wrote in Dawn on July 03, 2006. I talk about the Karachi’s government structure due to Musharraf’s devolution plan. At that time I was all praise for the city’s local government structure and how it had progressed in leaps and bounds. However, I stand corrected on that. Even though the government structure (explained breifly below) deserves praise I forgot that any kind of ‘democracy’, local or national, would mirror each other and the elections would always be a fraud. Today, we have in power Mr Mustafa Kamal of the ‘Haqparast’ group aka MQM. 
We all know why he is where he is and the page long newspaper adds and the ridiculous ‘Hamara Karachi Festival’ are a testament to his incompetence.
Mr Cowasjee highlights what is really going on in the city and how the incompetent and corrupt rulers of the city are turning it into a very dangerous place. He talks about the illegal industrial workshops being allowed to operate in the heart of the city, Saddar, turning it into a fire-trap. However, the failure by building authorities to ensure earthquake resistant buildings in a city of 14-15 million people is a disaster waiting to happen if, God forbid, such an event took place.
Way to go, Naimutullah Khan
IT was heartening to see Mr Naimatullah Khan, the former nazim of Karachi, contending for the title of World Mayor 2005. He did not make much headway since he resigned from office in June 2005, which was during the early stages of the competition and, therefore, became ineligible for the award.
What is even more heartening is the review that the city’s government structure got. For most of us who live in Karachi, there has been a marked change in the performance levels of the local government recently. However, the end result depends equally on an efficient system as it does on performance and hard work. The website states that Karachi, with its population of over 14 million, is the largest city, with a federated city structure. It also suggests that it has been followed by other cities in three different regions of the world, including Birmingham, Los Angeles and Montreal and, more recently, Baghdad.
The Karachi City District follows a uniquely British three-tiered system comprising the City District Government (CDG), the Town Municipal Administration (TMA) and the Union Administration (UA). Such an integrated structure, even though derived from the country’s pre-independence past, had never been attempted in cities of Pakistan and considering that it was done in a very short period — between 2001-2003 — makes it all the more impressive.
What is most impressive, and credit for which must be given to Mr Naimutullah Khan, is that recent governments have set standards which encourage transparency. In fact, he invited Transparency International to see what they could do to help the city implement a transparent and accountable system from the bottom-up.
It is not certain when President Musharraf will leave office. However, it is certain that he will leave one day and one of his legacies will be a federated structure of local governance being practised in cities all over Pakistan. Apart from Karachi, large cities such as Lahore, Faisalabad, Gujranwala, Multan, Hyderabad, Peshawar, Sukkur, Quetta, Rawalpindi and Bhawalpur are to be declared city districts.
While President Musharraf’s critics blame him for the weakening of civil institutions and democratic governance, he must be credited with introducing a system of local government that has already revitalised the city of Karachi, and provided a means of empowering the people.
Karachi is hostage in hands of looters and thugs who have altered their modus operandi a bit. Now they are taking ransom in form of tenders and donations. Most of the “development work” is mere eyewash. While money is changing hands no realistic gain is achieved yet. Citizens of Karachi have suffered physically, mentally and emotionally so that few elite can get a free passage from Airport to SITE. Building flyovers and underpasses is not a criteria of success, in my opinion. Look at the exponentially increasing crime rate, power breakouts and inflation - does it all points towards growth? Don’t think so.
.. and the federal government is spectator as usual.
Kashif,
You have brought up a great point about the underpasses and flyovers. I have always felt very strongly about the 26 or so such road structure developments taking place, or planned, in the city and will write a post on it soon. All these cost a total of around 2 billion rupees. I would hope that the government has looked into the feasibility and practicality of these projects because it seems as if most of these projects are being set up without anticipating the increase in Karachi’s road traffic. Certainly once the more important flyovers and underpasses are completed there would be temporary relief from the horrendoues traffic conditions, however eventually it would be back to the usual traffic problems.
The government needs to look at a permanent fix. A mass transit system has been proposed for the last 30 years. The rate at which the traffic on the roads is increasing it seems as if the Motor Vehicle Registration Authorities are keeping no track of how many cars should be allowed onto the roads. At some time we would be forced to invest in a mass transit system so why not do it now and save ourselves the hassle?