Karachi through
the Headlines
By Ambreen Vahidy
Karachi, Pakistan
Karachi
was once famous as a city of lights and beauty.
Lack of patronage by the government and its stakeholders
has defaced this once great city beyond recognition.
Vast slums, overflowing gutters, depleted roads,
un-checked crime, chaotic traffic and alarming air
and noise pollution have shaken its very structure.
The recent rains have also caused widespread flooding
and devastation, which has led to the loss of precious
lives, extensive damage to property, destruction
of roads, etc. We read this dismal news everyday,
right? Read on. With newspapers blaring headlines
such as ‘People suffer as KESC fails to repair
faults’, one is inclined to say in disgust
that the supply of electricity in such a city as
Karachi is but a mere farce and nothing more.
Karachi already has insufficient voltage if one
notices that even illuminated streetlights are like
candles on the poles except on a few roads. However,
the supply of electricity used to be uniform and
almost constant to the residential and industrial
areas once upon a time. But now the problem of this
‘hide and seek’ game has created tons
of damage beyond repair the likes of which Frank
Schmidt cannot make up for even in his grandchildren’s
generation.
Take another headline ‘Market runs short of
gram, pulses’. The holy month of profit making
(according to the traders) Ramadan has just passed.
Although Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz of the Islamic
Republic of Pakistan had empathically stated on
several occasions that the prices of edible commodities
will be in control, the reality is that basic essential
items of daily use such as grams and pulses were
sold at appreciably higher rates, far exceeding
the usual rates. This did not come as a surprise
for housewives who buy these goods each Ramadan,
but it must have been a problem for single income
families who cannot buy such items in stock. Do
traders consider this before they go on their price-raising
spree? I imagine not.
Yet rather serious middle of the page headline caught
my eyes as I was turning the newspaper pages: ‘Education
department defends ban on teachers’ associations.’
What is to become the fate of schools and colleges?
What IS to become of teachers politics? Haven’t
we had enough of red and black ribbons, lathi charged
teachers (recent events) and student strikes, I
dare ask? The morbid stubbornness of the Education
Department to meddle in teachers’ affairs
is beyond comprehension. Because after all, it is
our students who are ultimately paying the price,
isn’t it?
Let us turn to another interesting headline: ‘SHC
seeks statement on rickshaws phasing out’.
It beings a smile to one’s face to think of
our Supreme Court declaring our innocent rikshaw
walas and putting ‘declarations' on their
livelihood enough to make headlines. Indeed after
reading this one, I thought soon we would not even
have enough rickshaws to travel by, for goodness
sake, someone is finally doing ‘something;
for the blue collared transporters.
Another striking, alluring headline that made it
to the top of the pages: ‘Man dies of viral
fever at JPMC: Fumigation drive urged’. Now,
while the two statements contradict each other,
one is left with a gaping mouth: what could the
loss of one more life mean to the authorities? Perhaps
nothing. After all, the fumigation drive needs to
be urged, correct? I for one cannot bring myself
to ‘singing’ praises for the any effort
of the government in this regard if it leads to
such blatant negligence. They fact is, on page,
they were nobodies. In life, they were someone’s
‘breadwinner’, someone’s son,
someone’s husband.
I conclude with a clichéd, much favorite
headline of the day (self awarded): ‘136 deprived
of cars, cell phones’ and yes this one surely
takes the prize, anytime. The count may be low,
but for sure it is rising. Our dear smuggler brethren
who seem to be just as active, maybe a tad more
in the month of Ramadan are looting people off the
streets, depriving them of the century’s most
essential commodity – the cell phone. Now
what could be made for more interesting reading
than that? One could go on for time unending, but
the reader has to be kept in mind above all. And
while this may not have been a news reading, it
was a brief vent for a common scribe, with Karachi
headlines to rant about. The rest is life’s
daily pages, as they say.
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