Bleeding yet Numb!

Karachi is the city of lights….. the epicenter of all economic and industrial prosperity…. the revenue engine of Pakistan…. the Trade Gateway to the rest of the world…. the cultural and ethnic hub of our nation….. In other words Karachi (almost single-handedly) is what makes Pakistan move ….

It is perhaps because of this critical importance that Karachi has been the center of attention of every Government that came into power….. Every political party has tried to deepen its roots into this port city in order to gain control of this golden bird……

You can see people from all across the country living in this city…. All ethnic and religious groups have been organized into various large communities dwelling in separate parts of the city…… On one hand one can easily point out the Memon community, the Madrasi clan, the Bihari community, the Pashtoons, the Punjabis, Balochis, Sindhis and so on….. and on the other side….. there are clear demarcations between the Bohris, the Ismailis, the Hindus, the Parsis and of course the Sunni and Shia sects…..

The third type of segregation is on the basis of political parties…… there are areas that are being controlled by the MQM (Muttahida Qaumi Movement) which is the majority representative of the immigrants (mohajirs) . Other areas are under the influence of ANP (Awami National party) which speaks of the pathan community only…. PPP (Pakistan Peoples Party) ,which is currently  ruling the country tends to represent the Sindhi community, Similarly other parties such as the Jie Sindh and PML (Pakistan Muslim League)  Functional claim to represent smaller groups. The PML- Q, PML-N and PTI (Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf)  have not been allowed to propagate into Sindh by these aforementioned parties and they only stand to work in  Punjab and KPK provinces.

Having said all this it is not very difficult to see why there is  so much instability in this city, as every ethnic and sectarian group is trying to gain more and more power and control and considers the opposite party as its sworn enemy. The moment you enter the city you can start witnessing the political hoardings, banner, posters, flags and chalkings on  almost every piece of civil infrastructure that has been enacted. As every political party claims to represent the right cause and every religious group labels the other as infidels……….. its quite easy to unearth the cause of the current civil unrest…. which needs nothing more than a spark for ignition.

And the current spark is provided by the  political workers …..who are openly demanding extortion money from the small business owners ….killing people on the spot if they refuse to pay. This of course has been backed-up by the so-called leaders of the country who pay these workers to collect this money which is the main source of income for the political parties. The law enforcement agencies are helpless against these thugs, either because they are directly involved in sharing the loot ……..or they know that even if they catch them they’ll only get bailed out the next day on behalf of their superiors sitting in the Capital.

Hence the twisted fate of this beautiful city is resting in the hands of these numskulls who now resort to killing people in the name of ethnicity and language even if they do not have any relation with any political party or business community.

The people of Karachi were already suffering from the worst ever electricity crisis……There’s shortage of fuel, water and basic food commodities…… as most of the good stuff produced is exported and the bucks land in the pockets of the elite….. And this current wave of terror has caused a huge  shock to our economy…… People fear going to work or opening  their shops everyday as they feel insecure.

Adding fuel to the fire is the our electronic and print media which are in a constant rat race for coverage and portray Karachi as the most deadly place ever to exist on the face of the earth….

This is all what the current Karachi holds for its citizens….. and people have now become so numb… that they do not care if more than a 100 lives are lost in a single day… If they are safe themselves today….then its the best time to go to work tomorrow….. You might call it numbness or a critical necessity for the poor class….who has to earn every day in order to live….. but it is the ground reality… and it is the only thing that’s been hindering the expulsion of these Ruling Thugs from Pakistan!