Karachi’s Urban Spring?
Dreamers and nostalgists of Karachi are noticing the events of city politics and activism and are holding closely to their hearts a thing that keeps their lives in one piece: hope. When #FixIt started, they loved the innovation of playing with prestige of the government. Caricaturing it and keeping it with the place of duty, calling it the ‘honour killing of power’. The anger of Alamgir Khan had the seeds of an urban revolution. The spark had the potential to consume the whole forest. And then his popularity was obvious. He was on the TV shows and in the press. The video messages, viral on the social media, became a wake-up call for the city snoring for years. An alarming thing for both the government and community of one of the most unlivable, one of the dirtiest and one of the most dangerous cities in the world. The denouement came with his indictment for the charge of wrongful restraint punishable for imprisonment for up-to one month or fine up-to Rs. 1500 under section 341 of PPC. His ‘crime’ was to place a bin at the Chief Minister’s Office and invite the people to throw garbage in that.
Has #FixIt failed? Was the leader naïve, impatient, carried away by the media coverage and got lost in the baffling rhetoric that always confuses policy problems? Did the leader need more time on the balcony? Was there no method to his madness as they say? Was the invitation to bin too symbolic for the community to grasp? #FixIt continues silently to date but the motes of hype are settled. At this point we also think as to what other triggers we need to stand up for this city. Do we seriously believe that the government alone can solve issues of Karachi? Knowing the fact that the local council has got very little to its operational domain after promulgation of the new municipal law in Sindh. For example, Karachi Water and Sewerage Board and Sindh Solid Waste Management Board are provincial institutions, Karachi Urban Transport Corporation is a joint venture of federal and provincial government and Karachi Infrastructure Development Company is a federal entity. Now it requires strong support from the community groups more than ever before to demand devolution of powers for Karachi.
With city government in mind, one comes across another major development in the urban politics of the country – Karachi’s ex-Mayor Mustafa Kamal’s Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP). A lot has been said about it. From speculations on the background of its creation to its ambitions for a national role despite being attached with a particular ethnic identity and an unescapable past.
The PSP signifies the centrality and supremacy of urban governance in the electoral politics of this country in the times to come. When Mustafa Kamal reaches out to the people, he would stand on the notion (or may be a fact) that he delivered in Karachi in his mayoral term. But it would be different this time as back then there were ‘other forces’ behind him. Will he try to have compliance on the basis of ‘old tactics’ and create the same kind of environment in the new party? Will his partners from the same political upbringing allow level playing field for other parties in the city? With the aspirations of emerging as a national party, how will they address the constant ‘load-shedding’ of inherent district/local functions by the federal and provincial governments? Will they make a compromise on this critical issue once in a bargaining position? The PSP guys, understandably, have shown a lot of love for Pakistan in terms of party name, flag, insignia and the mission/manifesto etc. Will the scale and size of their ‘love for this country’ ignore Karachi?
While both the developments have historic significance for this metropolitan, #FixIt needs to create alliances with other community groups and PSP has to understand that Karachi is critical for their legitimacy if they want a meaningful success. Karachi has a strong middle class with global ethos. It goes without saying that this aware and educated citizenry is an asset for the urban governance. But unfortunately, this important resource is not impressively in action on account of participation in civic affairs. Take for example, traders’ contribution in building Sialkot’s infrastructure and imagine how the same segment of community in Karachi can effectively play its role. Moving further, the shape of things would be totally different when the city comes out of the mafia style politics, the urban activists join hands to demand more powers to the local representatives and the local councils deliver to their best. Can this not be realised? Are we talking about a different world here?
The writer is an urban policy analyst.