I’ve been living in Houston for some time, but I often return to Pakistan to visit my parents. In December, when I arrived in Karachi with my 3-year-old daughter, Minal, the city was spinning with more than the usual winter weddings, parties and reunions. President Musharraf had issued emergency rule to hold back a possible Supreme Court ruling against him, and Benazir Bhutto had returned to Pakistan at her own risk. There had been suicide bombings, the lawyers were battling for restoration of an independent judiciary and parliamentary elections were a few weeks away. My husband, René, wanted me to postpone our trip, but my father wasn’t well, and it was important to go. I assured René I’d do my best to stay away from the political action.
But after I got to Karachi, it didn’t take long for me to change my mind. I simply felt that too much was at stake. I joined my journalist sister, Beena, who is based there temporarily, and other friends at several marches in support of a free press and the lawyers’ movement. Continue reading ‘Karachi’s Winter Days By Sehba Sarwar’
Guest-Post by Jay
A poem by Faiz Ahmed Faiz, one of the most famous poets of the last century. During the dictatorship of General Zia-ul-Haq, he was arrested and taken to the police station in front of the public. In this context, he wrote ‘Aaj Bazaar Mein’.
This one is for Karachi.
Continue reading ‘Guest Post; Aaj Bazaar Mein’
Most of you would already be aware of this incident. However, I would like to bring your attention to my post on when fire broke out in PNSC building the last time.
Ironically, the KPT has approval to build the Rs. 20 billion KPT Tower Complex, which will be 1,947 ft. high (a patriotic gesture). If it was completed today it would be the tallest building in the world. However, on the other hand, neither KPT nor anyone else has the ability to fight an eleven storey fire. One would hope they use fire-resistant materials in the building and have proper fire-safety procedures in place, but even then the city would need better fire-fighting facilities for the future. The KPT (which generously spends on fountains and underpasses) should consider spending some of that money on fire-fighting facilities. These tall buildings could become very dangerous otherwise.
Luckily, this time around as well the incident took place on a Sunday (conspiracy theorists are already citing this as more than a mere coincidence) which is why not many people were inside the building at the time. However, these tall buildings without safety procedures and equipment are already very dangerous. I hope the relevant authorities stop pointing fingers at each other and do something about it before something terrible happens.
Continue reading ‘PNSC catches fire yet again…’
Published on August 13, 2007
in Karachi.
In the recent rains in Karachi scores of cars could be spotted stalled and stranded in the middle of water clogged roads. I saw one such car right before climbing onto Clifton Bridge and it was surrounded by bumper high water.
Needless to say it was affecting traffic flow and a lot of cars had to go around it and encounter even deeper water. However, when I went passed the car I noticed a young woman sitting and looking around helplessly. Unfortunately, it was in the middle of a relatively deep pool of water and help did not seem to be coming from the usually helpful passers-by.
Continue reading ‘Cars Stranded in Karachi Rains’
I hate to spoil the party that the reinstatement of Iftikhar Chaudhry has started…
But I felt it was necessary that we all take a reality check. There have been a continous string of bombs in the country; the majority of these have been in the tribal areas resulting in heavy loss of life.
The blast in Islamabad also caused considerable damage in terms of human life and our credibility as a nation. Though not as many casualities were reported, the international reaction and 1000 point drop in the stock market suggested the grave consequences of a bomb blast in the capital of the country.
Continue reading ‘Car-Bomb Discovered at Park Towers’
The City of Lights (or rather UPS’s and Generators as my friend Ghafoor put it) has been in the news quite frequently for the past couple of months. Unfortunately most of the coverage has been negative, and I don’t think the saying “Any publicity is good publicity” applies in this case.
Other than the countless protests by the lawyers, PPP, PPPP, MQM, MMA…. (and the list goes on and on), the city has also been lashed with the tail-end of a tropical cyclone. The overflowing gutters, uprooted electricity poles and strewn billboards suggest that the city is just not suited for rain. Add to that the fact that an extremely popular shopping mall in the vicinity of the teen talwaar (Continental Trade Centre-CTC) suffered from a horrible fire and is all but finished, and you feel the city is going through a rough patch.
But to eradicate all such thoughts I have decided to unveil to you Karachi’s latest attraction! It’s a bit of secret and is not openly discussed, which further encouraged me to enlighten you. An unusually large number of boisterous, eager males have been noticed to gather every Saturday night at the McDonalds outlet at Seaview at approximately 1 a.m. A rather odd time to say the least! The seaview McDonalds is a popular hangout for the general public. There have been a number of disturbing sightings in their rather large and secluded garden but that is not the cause of the latest excitement.
Continue reading ‘Karachi’s Latest Attraction’
Published on May 31, 2007
in Karachi.
Stop.
We’ve had enough.
Our city is not a battleground. Karachi is not a flashpoint. And we will not be ground zero for the orchestrated violence of the establishment.
Forty-one people were killed, ambulances targeted, cars set alight and over a hundred wounded in a battle over egos. No one is short of blame or culpability; there is blood on everyone’s hands. The chief justice and the president have made it brutally clear that the quandary over the CJ’s sacking is no longer political, it is personal. It is a schoolyard scuffle — my protest is bigger than your protest. Continue reading ‘Battle for Karachi by Fatima Bhutto’
I think recently we’ve been focussing a lot on the negative things going on in the country. It is also important to keep an eye out for any good things that are taking place so that they may lighten our mood and give us some hope for the future. One of these, the credit for which goes to City District Government Karachi, is Bagh Ibn-e-Qasim which is spread over 130 acres of land. By the way just across the road from this is another huge park spread over an area of 47 acres called Clifton Beach Park. Some might argue that two parks being across the road from one another might be an overkill considering the general lack of greenery in the city, but I think they can easily be treated as one huge park. I have seen both (from the outside) and they are both beautiful. Well done, CGDK!
Continue reading ‘Bagh Ibn-e-Qasim: The country’s largest park’
Here are a few accounts of people who witnessed the 12th May incident firsthand while doing their jobs. You can sense the disgust in both these emails. The first one is an email from a doctor posted at Teeth Maestro. The second was posted on Karachi Metroblogs and is written by Urooj Zia who writes for Daily Times.
On the other hand the CJ issue just keeps on getting interesting with more entertainment coming our way in the form of Mr Aitzaz Ahsan’s proposed Rs. 2 Billion libel suit against the President of Pakistan for blaming him for the deaths in Karachi. I wonder how he came up with that figure. Surely, his loss of reputation is not worth that much. It’s quite obvious he’s getting maximum political mileage from all this. An article in OutlookIndia.com by Mariana Babar hails him as Pakistan’s newest political hero. It says, ‘He’s said to be giving sleepless nights to Benazir. So, will he be tempted to float his own party, say, a Justice Party for the elections? The man who led the cavalcade from Islamabad to Lahore only smiles at the question. He isn’t talking, at least for now.‘ Now, THIS is a joke!
Continue reading ‘5/12/07 Karachi: Firsthand accounts’
So my younger cousin Dani cannot play cricket anymore. Why? Because he’s been told not to. Apparently, he can’t have a ‘public meeting’ of more than 4-5 people and invariably a game of cricket requires many more, even if played on the streets.
The Sindh Government has, under Section 144 Cr.P.C. (Criminal Procedure Code), imposed a ban on carrying weapons, processions, public rallies, public meetings, at any place except weddings and funeral gatherings for 30 days, throughout the province with immediate effect. Hmm.
Continue reading ‘Why Dani can’t play cricket anymore?’
