city overview

Crystal ball gazing by its very nature is fraught with uncertainty, but in the case of Karachi it is also burdened with lachrymose thoughts: whatever the next twelve months hold, it will not include a cure for all that ails this city. An honest assessment of Karachi's year ahead necessitates this disclaimer; the city's problems are far too intractable to be solved within a calendar year or two or even ten.

Yet, hardy as Karachiites may be, the fact of the matter remains that the aggravation they have to endure on a daily basis as they go about their professional and personal lives is needlessly high. Whatever the exigencies of the various crises that afflict this city, the feeling remains that things could have been better managed. The resources gap between a galloping population and inadequate infrastructure may well necessitate some cutbacks, some sacrifices, some difficulties, but things should not have come to pass in the manner that they stand today.

Consider the power crisis that blighted life across the city for much of 2006. Undoubtedly there was a gap between supply and demand and load shedding was inevitable. But the intensity and frequency of load shedding could have been reduced had the privatisation of the KESC been better managed. In the past, each winter the utility has busied itself with patchwork repairs of the creaking distribution network; the repairs have been well short of what has been required - a complete overhaul of the distribution network - but they have been good enough to take the worst edge of the summer power crisis. Yet, in 2005, the government in its infinite wisdom decided to hand over the utility to private owners just when preparation for the winter repairs should have been taking place. The effect was entirely, wretchedly predictable: the new management busied itself in reorganising internal management controls and let the more mundane task of repairs and renewal slip down the list of priorities.

This is not to claim that the power crisis would have not erupted in the summer had the new management carried out the ad hoc repairs: the surge in demand for electricity could only be met by long-term planning for electricity generation, for which a vigilant government is necessary. Yet, Karachiites were even denied the possibility of an extra, let us be generous, hour of electricity at night by the confluence of factors that could easily have been avoided.

The warnings of a renewed power crisis in 2007 are already growing. According to newspaper reports, Karachi faces a shortage of at least 200 MW in the summer, even at peak supply. This is particularly galling in light of the fact that Karachi should have had a new power plant producing 400 MW in 2007, but those plans have been postponed. Brace yourselves, Karachiites, the summer will probably be long and hot.

Rain ought to be a tonic for heat and fatigue, a respite from the South Asian summer, but Karachiites relationship with rain is, now, unequivocally painful. Where once rain may have been welcomed in a city that was less of a chaotic, overgrown jungle, today it is more likely to cause lower lips to quiver. Rain struck Karachi thrice in 2006 and memories of those days still causes the most hardened of Karachiites to wince. There were countless images of danger and despair, anger and frustration, but none encapsulated the havoc better than the submerged KPT underpass, built under the erstwhile-Schon circle.

The story of the KPT underpass is nothing but a jeremiad against the breakdown of urban planning and common sense. Built under the unfortunately-named Tameer-e-Karachi scheme, the underpass is a triumph of pigheadedness over sagacity. This is not criticism ex post; the avalanche of criticism from every technically-knowledgeable quarter should have buried the underpass. Instead, the job of burying it was left to Mother Nature.

When the summer monsoon arrived, the prophesies of doom came to pass: the underpass and its environs stood submerged for weeks; a major commercial and residential area and traffic artery were virtually shut down for days.

The response of city officials, who all too often confuse sangfroid with serene indifference, was to dig up the area and channel the rain water into the mysteriously depleted Nehar-e-Khayyam. The rain water was eventually drained away and city officials patted themselves on the back, but bemused commuters and residents have been left to navigate around the "temporary" trenches. All in a day's work; c'est la vie? Not quite.

The city government is back with a plan: unable to wrench control of the existing storm water drain from the land mafia and commercial interests, officials have proposed an underground pipeline that will carry rain water into Nehar-e-Khayyam. The cost? A piddling one hundred and sixty-eight million rupees.

The money would be well spent if the project had been thoroughly vetted and based on a sound design. But it will amount to no more than throwing good money after bad. Through the muck and grime of the summer rain, that pillar of Karachi, Ardeshir Cowasjee, demonstrated why the whole concept of the Nehar-e-Khayyam as a solution to the area's drainage problems was flawed. The nehar empties into the Arabia Sea where, as seas are wont to do, the tide reverses every day, resulting in sea water filling up the nehar. If the rain coincides with a rising tide, an entirely likely scenario, the nehar will quickly fill up from both ends and flood the surrounding neighbourhood. Undoubtedly there is a technical solution to the problem, but there is no evidence to suggest that the city's multi-million rupee proposal has given it any thought. One hundred and sixty-eight million rupees are literally about to be buried in the ground; a Keynesian recommendation lives on in the most perverse manner.

The other nightmare of 2006, traffic mayhem, is also not set for any abatement in 2007. Karachi's roads have seen a nearly fifty percent increase in vehicles in the last five years, a rate of increase that even the most advanced countries would have struggled to cope with. The response of the city's administrators has been typical: build more roads, bridges and underpasses with no regard for alleviating the stress on commuters. The most common defence is to remind commuters that the future will be brighter, but the more sceptical have not forgotten the story of the Clifton underpass: two years of chaos and disruption were borne with the promise of a brighter tomorrow, but that tomorrow has been with us for a while and few would suggest it is bright.

The experience of building a signal free corridor between Karsaz and SITE has not chastened the city's administrators: an idea has been mooted to shut down I.I. Chundrigar Road for eight months to "beautify" the financial heart of the city. Whether that comes to pass or not will be entirely down to the collective might of the financial sector, but even it may not be strong enough to resist an administration determined to become some latter-day Roman civil engineers. Arguably the only point of comparison between the two is Karachi's administrators' apparent adherence to the maxim "Rome was not built in a day". The Karsaz-SITE corridor is a case in point: three months became six, six became nine and there is no real end in sight to the mess there. The journey along this important artery is as harrowing as can be imagined; life for those who live and work beside it is misery personified.

The pall of gloom over this city is not a fait accompli; things can improve. This past week residents of many areas in the city would have been pleasantly surprised by the relatively speedy disposal of offal and animal innards. The city government had chalked out a plan and, by and large, executed it well. Yet, this apparent success must be treated with caution: first, it may have worked because it did not require any real sophistication in execution; and, second, it is not quite clear how adequately the offal was disposed of. Removing discarded animal innards from outside people's doorsteps is necessary, but will not of itself remove the threat of disease. As Karachi learnt so dramatically during the haemorrhagic fever epidemic in 2006, disease can stalk the city for months after the initial cause has disappeared.

Over the next twelve months, the best this city can hope for is a mixed bag. Karachi's denizens will never be phlegmatic, indeed, life in any city of Karachi's size can never be quaint, but the city can soothe their consternation and mitigate the worst excesses of an urban nightmare. The year has started on a good note for the city; one can only hope it is not a bookend to another terrible year.

The most common crimes in Karachi are carjacking, burglary, cell-phone snatching and drug peddling, followed by rape, assault, murder and abduction/kidnapping. The increase criminal activity, especially incidents involving violence, is a worrying development and bears many questions.

The scale of the problem is evident from a semi-annual report recently published by the CPLC. It monitored crime figures across the city in different categories over a six-month period between January and June 2006. According to the report, in the first month of January, 334 four-wheelers were stolen, but by June that figure had increased to 477. Homicide cases remain fairly consistent at around 200 a month. A similar trend was seen in cases registered against the possession of illegal firearms. Robberies and dacoities, however, increased sharply from 336 registered cases in January to 420 by June. Another report showed that during a three-week period in September approximately 750 vehicles and 4000 mobile phones were stolen. Other sources quote figures of seven robberies an hour throughout June and August of 2006. last year the level of crime appeared to have reached staggering proportions.

It is most evident is that increasing crime-rates coincide with the increasing socio-economic divide in the society. However, this common generalization is just the tip of the iceberg.

According to District Superintendent, Azizabad, Ijaz Hashmi, the main reason for street crimes is unemployment but in many cases the reasons may well have to do with the desire to climb the social ladder. In this age of consumerism where consumer culture is slowly seeping in, everyone wants the finer things in life. In urban centres like Karachi, the disparity between poor and the rich has increased rapidly in the last few years, and it is has definitely exacerbated the crime problem.

"It becomes a very big problem for many parents to face questions their children ask them. Children see others their own age with privileges that they do not have. Besides this, parents themselves want to climb socially and feel embarrassed to openly admit which income-group they belong to. They do a lot of things that they should not be doing, but do it in the utter desperation to make a social crossover," says DSP Hashmi.

Uzma Hafeez, Deputy Superintendent, Women's Jail, concurs with this point of view.

"There is unemployment and there is the status consciousness in the people of this society. But there is also the factor of the kind of atmosphere that a child is given when he is growing up. A child, who is going to steal, and not be told off about it, is going to grow up thinking that this is the right thing to do. He will soon incorporate the habit in himself, or herself. We at the women's jail try to give the right kind of atmosphere to the women here who have been convicted of crimes of various kinds; we try to bring a change in their mentality in order to bring a change in them. Being part of the jail staff, we are responsible for the kind of people we release from jail."

Is there a psychological factor causing the apparent increase in violent crimes such as murder, rape, assault and shoot-outs?

In his book "Contemporary Conflicts" psychiatrist Dr. Haroon Ahmed recognises that "aggression may be a response to frustration. As behaviour it is learned through socialisation." Karachi has a rapidly changing environment, and, most importantly, it is a politically active city. Politically motivated violence and aggression in the form of killings, shoot-outs and even torture is not an extraordinary phenomenon. This means that the kind of socialisation taking place in Karachi is invariably of an aggressive nature. A non-aggressive person faces trouble because he is more or less incapacitated and needs to be 'tough, selfish and shameless in order to succeed,' Dr. Haroon explains.

A theory advanced by Dollard in the late 1930s that argues that aggression is always caused by frustration, which, in turn, leads to aggression, backs DSP Hashmi's views on the source of crime. "People here are frustrated. They cannot pay for basic necessities; they cannot make enough money to support their families, or to send their children to schools. Rent has increased, so have prices of products and, with the increases in imports, the standard of living has gone up. People in their desperation, then, do something desperate."

It seems that Dollard and his associates were right. In general, Karachiites seem to have lost patience with each other and indeed even with life. They do not have patience and this can lead to a build up of frustration. A prime example is the violence and aggression linked to political motivated crimes. In our recent past, the use of torture cells by certain political parties was a well-known fact about Karachi's political life. Rival party members would be routinely picked up, gruesomely tortured and left to die. Even today, firearms are easily available to anyone with money.

Psychiatrist, Dr. Syed Wasif Ali, says that the media has a lot of responsibility in shaping society, and imitation, a very common psychological phenomenon, can cause many children, even adolescents, to copy what they see in films and television programmes -- even to the point of committing criminal acts. These crimes often include rape, murder, and drug abuse. "A lot of crimes are committed because the user of the drug loses his or her inhibition and, therefore, control over his/her basic drive. As for rape, it is important to know that the rapist suffers from a severe psychological problem in a way. His demands are immediate sexual gratification and control over the victim and there is no remorse felt for this crime."

The repression of sexuality in Pakistan often causes psychological problems, which are often expressed in later criminal behaviour. A forceful curbing of normal sexual behaviour leads to inhibition and society's way of turning a blind eye to all things sexual often results in adolescents becoming sexually oppressed. The lack of awareness also leads to exploitation, which remains undiscovered because in Pakistan one is 'not supposed to talk about these things'. It is a vicious cycle; men who are sexually oppressed often turn into oppressors themselves. And in a patriarchal society where sex is taboo, women are the easy prey.

According to Dr. Wasif, sex education is one way to try and stop rapes from occurring. Sexual inhibition means that some people start taking it by force (rape) while others are at the receiving end (victims). Dr Wasif believes that proper sex education should be made compulsory in schools at a certain age. In the day and age we live in, awareness is key.

Awareness can also help with the third and perhaps most insidious factor that can make people criminally-inclined, that is genetic make-up. Genes affect the intensity of violence and aggression in a person. It has been noted that if a man has an extra chromosome, XYY, instead of the normal XY, he is more likely to be violent. Serial killers and psychopaths often suffer from this mutation. The wrong kind of nurturing exacerbates the problem, but thankfully people who commit such heinous crimes are few and far between. Most Karachi criminals are petty thieves and many of them have sad stories to tell.

Prisoners from Karachi's Central Jail give heartrending reasons as to why they committed crimes. One 20-year-old man explained that he was so desperate to help his family financially that he tried to steal some money from his neighbours' house. "I was frantic; my family's conversations about there not being enough money left me mad enough to go do something I could never have thought of."

But for others poverty is not a reason. Shah, 34, an Under Trial Prisoner (UTP) says he was wrongly framed by someone he had a personal problem with. He was arrested by the police and had a fake FIR registered against him for peddling drugs. "I am a rickshaw driver; I don't even know how the drug business runs," he says matter-of-factly. Is Shah innocent? DSP Hashmi blames the system that is corrupt to the core.

However, the fault line in our justice system are only part of the story. Something also needs to be done about the increasing socio-economic divide and skyrocketing inflation. Social inequality remains the root of crime in Karachi. Too many people are squashed so far below the poverty line that they resort to crime in a bid to survive.

The problems relating to power supply and electricity breakdowns are well-known. What remains lesser known are problems relating to over-billing consumers. This is currently the case of Hyderabad Electric Supply Company's (HESCO) consumers.

HESCO is issuing electricity bills amounting to thousands of rupees to its consumers for unconsumed power. This is happening despite orders by the federal minister for water and power that no such bill would be issued without verification. However, the ground reality is completely different.

"I have been issued a bill of 50,000 rupees for one month which is absolutely unreasonable and unjustifiable," says Mohammed Ahsan, a government employee. "I use my air conditioner during hot times of the day in summers only. So you should have some idea of the amount of bill which should be issued to me."

Mohammed Ahsan revealed that he is not the only one with such afflictions; there are hundreds more. The real fuss is when the consumers have to move from pillar to post to get the bill rectified.

The cases of erroneous billing are becoming a common incidence with each passing day and HESCO insists that consumers were charged because "they were found stealing electricity through unknown means".

Definition of 'unknown means' is that when a consumer uses bypasses the meters and consumes more electricity than the meter reports. This argument carries little weight because the company has installed all the electricity meters outside the consumers' houses.

There have been several rallies and demonstrations in protest by domestic and commercial consumers but the company is paying little heed to these displays of objection.

There has been some initiative from the government though. District Nazim Kanwar Naveed Jamil has recently directed the HESCO authorities to avoid issuing detection bills to innocent consumers as this creates resentment among the people and the company loses credibility.

"Don't issue any detection bill without a witness from the concerned Union Council Nazims; or without mentioning specific causes of detection charges in advance," insists the Nazim. His directives, however, were not obliged and detection bills have been continued to be issues.

Kanwar Naveed also said that HESCO authorities should give 17 per cent relief of its technical losses which are presently being charged from the consumers. "The consumers were not responsible for tampering. Why should they pay the charges to cover the line losses of the company, which are due to technical faults and corrupt practices of HESCO employees?"

The Nazim asked the HESCO, Union Council and Taluka Nazims to work out comparative proposals and find a permanent solution to get rid of this menace. Noble as the thought was, there was no action followed from it and not a single meeting was held even after two months of the directive.

Mohammed Hussein, a local journalist, has been issued inflated bills for the past many months, and he has to visit the HESCO offices to get the bill corrected.

"I am not satisfied even with the 'corrected' bill as I am being charged more than I am consuming in my three-room flat. I have even installed the power-savers, and there is no air-conditioner in my house," he tells Kolachi.

Hussein says that he is receiving a monthly bill of about 1,000 rupees per month but the authorities says that the bill is correct as it is being issued as per meter reading.

According to the due process of the detection bill issuance, the consumer has to be taken into confidence if something is detected with the power consumption; in case there is some discrepancy the consumer has to be notified, and a signature of the consumer has to be taken on the form. However, it seems that in this case no one is going by the book.

"The officers at sub divisions of HESCO are so busy in signing these detection bills issuance that at once a SDO issued a detection bill to his own house in haste!" a source at HESCO revealed. "This shows that when they are issuing these bills no consideration or cross checking is done to verify whether power is really being stolen."

The chief engineer of HESCO Ghulam Hussein told Kolachi that wrong detections would not be charged and action would be taken against the responsible employee of the company. Absurdly enough, he added that verification of detection is not possible prior to issuance of detection bills and all those bills would be withdrawn which prove incorrect. But for that, the consumer would have to lodge complains against the wrong detection bills.

It is quite clear that the electric supply company should work out a better plan of action against power thieves and should take better care before indicting people as electricity thieves. HESCO should also verify the detection charges and should work in coordination with elected representatives, like it is working with the business community, by holding regular meetings to solve the problems.

From his dark brooding looks to his devil may care attitude, Sheikh Abdul Wahid, often comes across as a brash youth detached from the surroundings. Working in one of the leading ad agencies in Pakistan, Wahid is a graphic designer by profession. A creative Karachiite, he is an avid outing buff as well as a proud owner of an antique Triumph motorcycle. A self confessed romantic and a guru when it comes to offering dating tips, Wahid shares his free wheeling ideas with Kolachi.

Kolachi: Tell us a bit about yourself?

Sheikh Abdul Wahid: I am a graphic designer by profession. I have worked on some of the best and prestigious campaigns and I enjoy my work. I am married and have three children and am very much a family man. Apart from that, I am a love nature as well.

Kolachi: Tell us something about your passion for old vehicles?

SAW: I like watching classics and all these years I have been thoroughly impressed by the classy vehicles driven in Hollywood movies. I like old cars, bikes. I consider all of them as collectors' items.

Kolachi: But generally the perception is that old vehicles are junk or 'kabaar'?

SAW: Do not ever think that old vehicles are junk. They have history. The Triumph motorcycle that I have is a model that dates back to the World War II; and when I found it, it was in a depleted condition. I literally built it from scratch and I can now safely say that it lives up to its reputation. I drive it around Karachi and once, we even managed to pull a car with this bike!

Kolachi: Any interesting incident related to your bike?

SAW: A lot of people think of me as a goon when they see me riding this bike. At other times, I feel people envying me. Once I accompanied a friend to a fashion shoot where my motorcycle was used. Gia Ali was the model and she was impressed by my bike. She even asked me if I could teach her about riding a bike.

Kolachi: What is the best place for a single man in Karachi?

SAW: I would say Sea View, but I would request all young men not to go on a date there, its one of the most unromantic places despite the sea and a lovely view of the horizon. The crowd of eve teasers and the ever ready 'take a bribe or slap a charge' police walas are really a pain.

Kolachi: What's the best place for an impromptu date?

SAW: Boat Basin. With all its eateries that take care of the taste buds. Besides, it is pretty economical as well.

Kolachi: For a family, what places would you suggest for outings?

SAW: Sea View, Sands Pit, Manora - all these places are great places and I often take my family there. I think spontaneous trips add to the fun. My children really get excited when I tell them that we are going for a picnic. Also, the Aladdin Park and Dream World resort are nice hangouts because the kids are happy with all the space and water activities.

Kolachi: Any childhood memories of Karachi?

SAW: As a young man, I remember Karachi as green city. There were old trees and the city wasn't a concrete jungle as it is now. With that much breathing space, I am sure our thoughts were affected in a positive manner. As a child, I remember hoping onto a tonga with my friends and taking a ride, seeing old buildings. Karachi was so much better then.

Today, the city is not safe and with the ever increasing population and construction, there is a dire need of space. Now, most people spend their time hooked on to cable TV and I have yet to come across teens who are interested in some outgoing adventure like hiking.

Kolachi: Is there something you would like to change about Karachi?

SAW: This city has been marred by a lot of violence for quite some time and I hope that somehow we can put an end to it. Also, the mobile thefts these days are increasing. For a mobile that is worth only a few thousands, the thieves do not hesitate to kill people. I don't feel safe and I am sure many people in Karachi would feel the same. I wish Karachi would become a city where one can take a long walk without even being bothered by the fear of being robbed in broad daylight or being shot dead.

Kolachi: What is the one thing you would like to do given a chance?

SAW: I would like to go on an all Pakistan trip on my bike.

As he smoke and guzzles down a cup of tea, Wahid is all excited about the all Pakistan trip. He says that someday soon he will take the trip although he agrees that it would be heavy on the pocket. "Imagine the kick of a road trip on a bike!" Living big, thinking bigger – such is Karachi's character.