If cities were people, meet Karachi
Photo by Hasaan Haider/Dawn.com
In the last week of 2012, the city of Karachi has remained, as was for most of the rest of the year, predictably doused in death and blood and strikes. An attack on one man, an announcement by another, festering hatreds, bombs and burnings, shutters down on shops, all of it the smoldering stuff that has encased the nearly 2000 deaths this year. On this dish of depravity, its flavors undeniably moldy and pungent have been sprinkled the usual condiments of appeasement; plans for de-weaponisation, proposals for “peace” imagined ideas for different ways of divvying up the tiny pie of opportunity to be divided into morsels and atoms for eighteen million people. That project, of saving Karachi belongs to others; those with gumption or guns or a famous enough last name to joust with hope in hopeless times.
If cities are like people, then Karachi is forever changed. The Karachi of 10 years ago was like a tired wedding guest encountered long after the party of Partition, still dressed in the finery that suggested a languished joyousness, but with a troubling bit of dishevelment mysterious and sinister and not quite right, swirling in silk but smelling of sweat, bejeweled but a bit begrimed Karachi then was a city on the cusp. In retrospect, we could have called out the festering disease of terror that seethed then just below the city’s pulsing surface, the incursions of new migrations silently adding pounds that would soon burst the seams of old garments. That Karachi of 2002 could have gone either way, cleaned itself up and emerged again, glorious and ready for merriment of a new celebration, a city of lights without power, aching for festivity but threatened by death.
That wedding guest never got any rest and never cleaned up and there has not been any new joyousness to celebrate. If people are like cities, then Karachi at the end of 2012 is the transvestite who begs at busy intersections. Clothed in bright pinks, blues hues brighter than any woman would bear, stubble covered in powder and lipstick, arms looped on matching purses and slippers slipping on potholed asphalt, it is this absurdity that is the personification of Karachi of today. This new vision of Karachi is not a woman and yet a woman, permitted and forbidden, and parading a matchless denial. It is a vision of Karachi where people without electricity insist that theirs is a city of lights, people without water to gush about their ocean, people without harmony sing of peace and people covered in blood clothe it in finery.
Every person at the intersection knows the truth about the transvestite, some allude to it with slights and swipes and lewd gestures, and others go along with the pretense, the perversity and pathos of it, the desire to be something else and the thinnest veneer of almost being able to do so. Karachi too is very particular in its denials, and very insistent in its questions. Is a city that goes on despite the carnage, full of people that look away, that flee and build walls and buy guns and post guards and raise gates a city of survival or a city of denial? Is the ability to go on, as Karachi dwellers do resilience or just a lavish layering of misery that makes poison palatable?
There is more than just conjecture to this, even if cities are not people or metaphors, they do as political and philosophical theorists have opined; have spirits and souls. In Ancient Philosophy, it was two city states, Athens and Sparta that formed rough models for the democratic and oligarchic systems of governance referenced in the works of Aristotle and Plato. London and Paris were the beating centers of the revolutionary throes that transformed Europe, Berlin and its divided halves were the visible margins of the Cold War. Cities then with their conglomerated spirits gathered from far corners of the polity and guided by the common aches of transience and dislocation can make statements in a way a country never can.
Whether Karachi was the tired, stale wedding guest at Pakistan’s party after Partition, or is the transvestite trussed up in the masks of urban modernity, it is a city in search of a country’s spirit. So awash with blood and so ignored, it stands today confused and exhausted at the point of believing in its own lies, the city of escape for those that arrive fleeing other demons and suffering for those who never found what they were looking for. If you are in Karachi, love Karachi, miss Karachi, hate Karachi or loathe Karachi, the end of 2012 can perhaps be a date of admission of the city’s truths; an avowal that Karachi for a long time perhaps always has been the city of slights and fights and denials, hidden away or held close, but forever there.
Rafia Zakaria is a columnist for DAWN. She is a writer and PhD candidate in Political Philosophy whose work and views have been featured in the New York Times, Dissent the Progressive, Guernica, and on Al Jazeera English, the BBC, and National Public Radio. She is the author of Silence in Karachi, forthcoming from Beacon Press.
The views expressed by this blogger and in the following reader comments do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the Dawn Media Group.
Looking across the border at neighbouring India may help. Delhi has received a makeover with new Metro Rail, Bus Rapid Transit, clean roads, controlled suburban development etc.
Karachi- The City of Candlelights…thanks to all the load sheddings.
What ever is left of Karachi would soon be wiped out. We need to wise up and find the solutions. Step up our effort our voices, opinions at the Government level. We the Karachites can make a difference no one else would
very good
peace can bring back smile on our face! We beg for tolerance and respect from all groups
Love Karachi or leave Karachi.
please make KARACHI PEACEFUL . THESE KILLERS, GANGSTERS, OTHERS SHOULD BE HANGED IN PUBLIC SO THAT PEACE RETURNS. PAKISTAN ZINDABAAD
Public hanging is an act of violence and terror in itself. If you want to fix our city, fix yourself first. Treat each other with respect, stop littering, be patient in traffic. If someone shouts at you do not shout louder. Do not violate your neighbors’ rights. Cleanup the front you house…but do not dump the trash in street. Respect others’ beliefs and rituals…they do not harm you. The violence we suffer is an outcome of a stressed society. Hanging some will not remove the stress…just make room for more.
I grew up in Karachi in seventies and eighties… and I yearn for her to get back to those glory days of seventies and early eighties when the city was growing exponentially in peaceful atmosphere. Let’s just hope and pray that some honest leadership would emerge in Pakistan and lead this city again in the direction of peace and prosperity.
Amazing article for the way it describes a fiasco in the most sublime language. Karachi will never be the same Karachi it was or as we know it. We all keep trying to hold our imagination of its unchanged being by closing our doors, muffing our ears and shutting our eyes, just keeping our tiny bits of Karachi intact.
But for the article, it is most amazingly worded, poignant and beautiful imagery. The irony of the words and what they describe. As a student, I would love to read you academic papers Ms. Zakaria? I didn’t know PhDs could be so poetic.
Almost lyrical………a well written and insightful piece.
Chaotic and a violent city devoid of soul like most commercial hubs.
Indeed. Prayers…
As Rafia has not been a part of it, she just can’t imagine what a wonderful and tolerant city Karachi was in the 1960′s when it was indeed a ‘city of lights’ in comparison to Lahore, Peshawar, Rawalpindi, and
Dacca. To insist in calling it a ‘city of lights’ today as some of our anchors do on TV is, indeed, a joke. Yet even today there is a section of ‘Karachites’ who own the latest model of cars, are ever present in all the large malls buying imported goods at highly marked up prices, and who would not bat an eyelid
if prices of everyday items are raised ten times its original price. Although such people do complain about the present life in Karachi, they never think of moving to another city. For many, Karachi has always been (and will be) the goose that lays the golden egg.
karachi was karachi in the 50s; 60s; & 70s only not after that until today
To clean up Karachi we karachites have to reclaim it first by sending non karachites back to there own place and then allowing only those who find jobs to come back and the police has to be 100 percent karachiteses then the city will have order and the lights of progress will shine and the ethos of tolerance will spread to the rest of the country
If this is the case to reclaim Karachi then i believe you aren’t strong enough for it. It will create a big chaos which i believe is these days been seen and happening all over. The problem is that people need to get sober and understand the importance of there own country. Until people don’t become sober nothing is going to happen, if you apply the possibility of sending non karachites back and forth, you will end up really destructive. I hope people understand what a human life is for and understands the importance of it. Being a sindhi i liked karachi because i studied in karachi. But there is nothing wrong with it.. Its only people who make things worst. If you are pushing karachites out you are closing the doors to education health and prosperity of nation. Think about it.
Karachi problems are done by foreign agents. Till we do not control them peace is not possible
I agree with you 100 percent…Karachi belongs to Karachites, GUESTS are welcome and should return back to their homes after visiting instead of taking over the host’s position.
it looks like all the ‘foreign agents’ have been assigned to Pakistan ! you need to wakeup buddy
A better solution would be, to creat more cities like Karachi. But it need pure intention from authorities.
Karachi is a part of Pakistan. Sorry, it is not to be owned by any particular sect. People of Pakistan are free to live and work anywhere they wish to. Having this kind of racist attitude will not help improve the situation and probably, it is the root cause of the problem.
Better yet why don’t we make Karachi a country with in a country…. please don’t break Pakistan any further, instead educate people, make the system based upon truth and justice.
How about we welcome whomever wants to come…as long as they abide by the city rules and regulations as well as the law of the land. No land-grabbing, no drug pedaling, no illegal arms trade, no prostitution rings, no extortion, and the list goes on. But the Karachiites themselves have to to learn to respect and live by the law first.
I would say Karachi the only city in Pakistan, rest is rural
Unless, the people sort out the differences and stop bragging that this city only belongs to people of Sindh and people from other parts of the country should be banished from this city as they claim the jobs of locals, there are no hopes of making progress.
I am from Karachi personal opinion , Karachi is the Only city in Pakistan where civilization exists, rest Pakistan becoming Afghanistan . God Bless my city and keep away evil away.
I was in karachi for 4 years. I am from rawalpindi but I love Karachi for many reasons. great city indeed.
I am from Karachi and I have been to Rawalpindi and loved it to the bones. It’s not apple to apple comparison my friend…We have amazing cities all over Pakistan.
I was in Rawalpindi for 2 years it is a lovely place so Mr Fakhar Balouch please go back to and let karachi be with karachities.
speechless…….