Peace among stakeholders
The optimism expressed by Nawaz Sharif while launching the first phase of the Karachi Bus Rapid Transit System is not entirely unfounded. It was no ordinary thing to achieve a tangible improvement in law and order in Karachi in nearly two years and a half. The crime rate has notably come down across the city, the Taliban’s no-go areas have been opened up and criminal gangs largely dismantled. The operation has had a sobering impact on the MQM also which despite commanding support in Karachi and other urban centres of Sindh is no more capable of taking recourse to shut downs and violent protests.
The transport mess in Karachi with seemingly no way out had been for years one of the major irritants that created a favourable environment for violent agitation. The Green Line Bus project, which is a part of a seven-corridor Karachi Mass Transit Scheme, would alleviate the problems of nearly 300,000 passengers a day. These however comprise only a small section of the over 20 million population of the mega city. Work is also expected to start on the unfinished Lyari Expressway in March, for which the federal government has already released Rs1.9 billion. The rest of the projects are to be undertaken by Sindh government which continues to move at a snail’s pace that characterises it.
The Prime Minister says he is determined to bring back to the city its previous glory. This depends mostly on the relations between the various stakeholders that include the PML-N’s federal government, PPP’s provincial government, city’s largest political party MQM and the Rangers. Whatever progress has taken place in the city is due to cooperation, even when accorded grudgingly, between the stakeholders. Any move that creates the perception of a stakeholder being deprived of its space can have adverse impact on the improvement so far achieved. None should nurse the illusion that they can single-handedly manage the city.
