By Meena Ahmed

Unlike most posters plastered on the city’s walls, the message is neither political nor religious nor for some miracle cure. An online description of the service reads: “Home Nursing Agency shall provide services to all persons in need in its defined service area regardless of race, colour, religion, sex, age, nationality, origin, disability, ancestry, or sexual orientation.” With the motto of helping individuals, ‘Jacob Javed Welfare Foundation’ is a social welfare organisation working for Karachiites during the most challenging moments of their lives.

Together, Jacob Javed and his wife Salamti started working for the cause with their personal experiences in the field at different hospitals. It has been 10 years now since they began their journey.

Being medical graduates, the couple launched their business from Mehmoodabad later shifting to Defence View. Currently, the office is located in Defence Phase II. Javed explains, “I am a social worker basically whereas this agency is run by my wife and two sons. Besides them, we have other staff members too.”

Beginning as a home nursing agency, the institute is now a proper social welfare organisation. Currently, the agency is also extending its services to emergencies in the city. “There have been incidents when we handled emergency cases too. The first was when chaos erupted following former prime minister Benazir Bhutto’s assassination and the second was the bomb blast at the shrine of Abdullah Shah Ghazi,” shared Javed. 

The cause that is keeping Javed on his heels is the desire to serve human beings. “The spirit is to work for the noble cause so as to help distressed and poor people. We want to bring hope to this society,” commented Javed. The team also organised a camp to collect donations for the flood affected. “We proudly say that we collected donations worth Rs. 300,000 and sent off around 12 fully loaded trucks with the basic necessities to local camps,” claimed Javed.

Interest in human rights is also a motivation for the social worker. Javed said that he took keen interest in providing justice to the trainee nurse at JPMC who became the victim of sexual harassment last year. “When the case was going nowhere, I personally took charge and worked actively to demand from the authorities to bring the culprits to book,” said Javed.

The agency receives numerous resumes for jobs since it also provides trained and qualified male and female medical staff for home care and to hospitals and personal clinics. Furthermore, Salamti Javed provides medical training to young matriculates, who opt for the three-month training programme for a fee of Rs 1,500.  “The minimum qualification for the training programme is matriculation and the trainee need not have any prior medical knowledge. The intention is to provide skills to individuals so that they can find a means of living,” said Javed.

Most of the cases dealt by the ‘Jacob Javed Home Nursing Agency’ are of older individuals demanding care round the clock. The agency has also provided home nurses to take care of the ailing daughter of MNA Faryal Talpur and the mother of former Sindh Chief Secretary Fazl-ur Rehman.

The lowest cost for providing a home-attendant from the agency ranges from Rs. 9,000 to 10,000 per month, and for an aid-nurse/ assistant nurse Rs. 12,000 to15, 000. However, the agency charges Rs 20,000 for a highly qualified nurse.

When it comes to spread the words about the institute’s services, it is certainly not confined to pasting wall posters across the city. Social networking websites such as Facebook, YouTube, online and cable ads, SMSs, banners and pamphlets are some of the most common and trouble-free modes of marketing employed by the agency.

The foundation intends to further its services to the Karachiites by establishing an old-age home, extending its ambulance service with a rehabilitation centre for drug addicts. Moreover, the Javeds plan to introduce cut-price food service to the poor in addition to assist the poor in arranging wedding gifts for their daughters.

By M. Waqar Bhatti

While roaming the city streets, it is difficult to avoid the posters and graffiti extolling the services offered by Shakeel Anwar. The posters can be found in every nook and corner of the city, proclaiming that Anwar has the cure for each and every sexual illness that a man contracts due to ‘malpractices’ during his teenage years.

Every day, hundreds or perhaps thousands of people see the posters with Anwar’s photos on them. Many would have visited him too, despite efforts by the media and associations of health practitioners to create awareness by regularly warning people not to visit these ‘graffiti’ health experts who have a ‘cure’ for all diseases, ranging from hepatitis to hypertension, diabetes to HIV/AIDS and from renal problems to erectile dysfunction.

Shakeel Anwar claims to be an expert of the male reproductive organs who has his clinic in Rainbow Center, near Empress Market. His posters pasted on city walls claim that if anybody has lost his sexual vigour due to ‘malpractices’, he should visit him and he will be cured of his shortcomings.

The posters and graffiti describes Shakeel Anwar as a ‘Mualij-e-Khusoosi’ or Special Consultant for sexual diseases and also allude to several degrees held by the man, many of which are unrecognisable to most people.

When Kolachi talked to Shakeel Anwar, he claimed to be a homeopathic practitioner and a traditional Hakeem as well, with expertise in treating sexual disorders in men mainly due to psychological disorders and stress.

“I’m not a quack like others who use the city walls for their publicity but know nothing about the human body and health. I’m a qualified homeopathic practitioner and Hakeem and I use both types of medicine. My specialty is sexual disorders among men and I’m a known consultant in these types of health disorders,” he replied when asked about his area of expertise.

While commenting about the used mode of publicity, he claimed he never used graffiti as a means to grab audience but as for wall-posters are concerned, it is to let people know that there is someone ‘qualified’ and an ‘expert’ in areas which trouble a lot of people.

Claiming that he was certified from St. John’s Homeopathic Medical College in homeopathy (also located in Empress Market, Saddar) and Sindh Tibbiya College in Hikmat (in Hyderabad, Sindh), he said he practices both forms of medicines to cure men facing reproductive health issues.

“I’m not a general physician, where people wait in queues for their turn. I’m a consultant and people have to take an appointment before visiting me. At the moment, I’m very busy as I have patients who are waiting for me. But if you have any problem related to your sexual health, you can visit me any time,” he offered while explaining his status as ‘Mualij-e-Khusoosi’.

 Asked about a ‘Namak-e-Anwari’, a supernatural salt that can cure diabetes and many other diseases and city walls are often filled with its miraculous properties, Anwar said he had nothing to do with this salt.

“My area of specialisation is solely sexual problems among males. I use both traditional Hakeemi and homeopathic remedies to treat sexual disorders instead of claiming to be the champion of all the diseases in human beings,” he informed.

After interviewing Shakeel Anwar, one is left with a suspicion that he is one among those thousands Hakeems and Tabibs who can cause serious problems for people who are already suffering from some serious health issues. Owing to their ignorance and lack of resources, these people hesitate to go to qualified health practitioners for a solution of their health-related issues, leaving the field open to all kinds of quacks.

By Naimat Haider

About 36 years ago, a landlord’s son beat up a poor boy at a school in Larkana. To seek justice, the boy narrated the episode to their teacher, asking him to punish the landlord’s bulky son. What the poor boy got instead was another thrashing, this time from the teacher himself. It was that day when the boy realised something was terribly wrong with the society he found himself in, and in order to make the world a better place he became Manthar Solangi - a politician who has sworn to save the universe and every single thing in it.

His belief was further strengthened when he spent three long months in jail to oust the then military ruler General Ziaul Haq as a student activist in 1983. He had volunteered to be in jail actually, for he hated the general.

Today, Solangi is a 46-year-old politician from Larkana who leads a party called the Jiye Insan Tehreek and wall-chalking in almost all parts of Karachi promise that he is a friend to people, animals, plants, even enemies and every other thing there is. He assures of a revolution that will solve all of Karachi’s long time troubles once and for all.

Solangi says wherever any injustice takes place in the country with the poor you will find him as a shield pushing the tyrant away. “We all have come from God’s factory not the Dadabhoy cement factory,” he said. “No human being is superior to the other. Muslims and Hindus, men and women, black and white and the Hari and landlord all have equal rights”.

Apparently, the landlords have a slight difference of opinion with him. Solangi once supported the family of one Munno Bheel who was in the custody of a landlord. The landlord was arrested but released after a short time and Solangi became a hunted man. He narrowly escaped several attempts to catch him by the landlord’s people who were out to teach the politician a good lesson. “Minutes after I would leave a particular place, armed people would barge in, asking for me. They could never catch me,” he told. Solangi always escaped unhurt but it is sad to say that Jiye Insan Tehreek lost three offices to the anger of the landlord’s men.

However, he is now relatively safe in Karachi, where he is making preparations to give the other political parties a tough time in the next elections. He expects to send his supporters to the provincial assembly in Sindh and the National Assembly from areas of Ibrahim Hyderi, Malir and Memon Goth.

But, how will all the problems that Karachi is facing be solved once he comes to power? “I’ve over 20,000 followers from Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan and my motto is anti-crime and ‘anti-cruelism’. Besides, people can call me anytime to give suggestions. I’ll always attend their phones most obediently just like I do today.”

By Zeeshan Azmat

As a rule, wall-chalking is carried out for publicity purposes, yet in one case it was conducted out of protest. The protest was done by the name of Perfume Chowk which took over many walls of the city.

Perfume Chowk, which was established in 1999, is quite known to Karachiites, most of whom are familiar with the name due to the massive wall-chalking noticeable across the city. “In my case, it was a protest against the injustice of the authorities and a city-based political party”, owner Perfume Chowk, Mursaleen Khan Sherwani, told Kolachi.

“The then head of Cantonment Board Faisal (CBF) tried her best to destroy my business by demolishing my stalls one after another. However, every time I re-established my booths with more energy for which I also went to jail and faced the courts,” he narrated.

In 2001, the administration of Gulshan-e-Iqbal Town demolished Sherwani’s first stall which, according to him, became a regular habit of the town’s administration and CBF. “They came to my stall to demolish it for reasons best known to them,” he protested. 

Moreover, Sherwani told that his business also became the target by some unidentified people who had thrown a petrol bomb at his stall too. Also as a result of which he lost all his sales records. “As a result of all this, I asked my well-wishers to initiate a drive by writing taglines such as ‘Perfume Chowk Karachi, khusboo sub kay liye’,” he explained.

‘Perfume Chowk, Gulistan-e-Jauhar’, was the first wall-chalking that appeared across the city followed by another, ‘Mera qasur kia tha? (Perfume Chowk): 10 saal mukamaal hoay!’ “I never used wall-chalking as a publicity tool,” he claimed. According to Sherwani, his chowk is now famous globally as the graffiti has also been done in different countries besides every major city of Pakistan.

Completely saddened with his life, Sherwani wanted to commit suicide but told that his faith on Allah filled him with a new hope. “One day, I was standing near Drigh Road station with the full intention of executing my plans. However, suddenly, I felt that some unseen force had stopped me and advised me to launch a perfume business,” he said.

Sherwani, was also pleased when a local television channel launched a drama serial named after his shop, which his acquaintances advised him to claim his loyalty for the title. However, he refused out of satisfaction.

Apart from perfumes, he is also fond of stones and impresses visitors with his rings on each finger. Before staring the business, he was a sub-inspector in the police department but resigned later. Further he told that he had also served the Pakistan Army and public sector education department as a primary school teacher.

Currently running his business at stall number 12, Sherwani is also engaged in social servicing and claims to run a social welfare organisation too.

By Rabia Ali

From the Baloch Colony expressway to the historical walls of Makli, a name and number chalked on walls, drains and bridges pledges to solve all kinds of problems.

Whether it is making a woman fall in love with an admirer, breaking a black magic spell on someone, transforming a childless couple into a family, solving disputes between a woman and her in-laws, Amil Junaid Bengali, a faith healer, claims to have the solutions to all your woes. The means at his disposal to achieve these aims include taaviz, hand print (naqsha), drinkable powders, and talismans for everyone.

Away on a personal trip to the capital, the man, who often arouses curiosity amongst passersby, spoke to Kolachi about himself and the work he does - somewhat cautiously and carefully.

Claiming to belong to a ‘mystic’ family, Bengali says that that he has been in the business of providing relief to the people by the help of Quranic verses for the past 35 years now. Though commonly known as a black magician, he refutes the claims and said that he does not practice magic, but helps people to break free from magic.

Answering a question about his advertisements, which litter walls across the city, making them unattractive and unsightly, the man distances himself and says that it is not he but his followers who conduct this business.

“I never ask the people to do wall-chalking as I know that it is illegal. But it is their love and respect for me which forces them to spread my name and number to others. My followers who have gotten shafaa from me want other solution-seekers to come to me,” he claims.

Bengali says that during his current trip to Islamabad, he was surprised to see graffiti with his name on the walls there too. “I have no idea where else this wall-chalking has been done,” he says talking about the almost free-publicity approach which has earned him fame and popularity.

Bengali says that he is available every day from morning to afternoon at his yellow-coloured workplace situated at Kala Pul, attending to people, listening to their pleas and giving them solutions. “In return I just ask the people to distribute sweets in mosques.” This claim is contrary to people’s account on various blogs who allege that the man demands a high monetary price, mobile scratch cards and other gifts from his customers for the work he does.