THE violence in Karachi reminds me of a 1960s’ western film The Magnificent Seven, starring Yul Brynner.

It is about bandits terrorising farmers of a village to pay ‘protection money’.

A group of these bandits ride on horses to remind the farmers, and one of them pulls out his gun and shoots one farmer dead. The leader very casually threatens the farmers: “No protection money, no protection.”

The Magnificent Seven encouraged the farmers to fight back and join in with them to confront the bandits. The farmers armed themselves with spears, axes, whatever weapons they could lay their hands on as they were not trained fighters.

Are we living in an era where there is no civilisation?

RAFI AHMED Karachi