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Breakdown of a City

A fortnight of rain devastation has made Karachi into a city under internal siege, beset by electricity and water problems. As the civic infrastructure collapsed past the point of overload, irate citizens have been protesting violently in front of KESC and KWSB sub-units. A gradual erosion of civic discipline over the past few weeks has been manifest in the masses venting their increasing frustration on a whole range of issues on the more visible and immediate causes leading to their present misery. On Friday July 22, 1994, a massive power shutdown paralysed most of the Province of Sindh for over six hours, some areas in Karachi came on line after 24 hours in some cases. Worse was to follow! On Saturday July 23, 1994, a “flash” led to a fire in the Gizri Grid Station blacking out almost the entire South of Karachi. Many areas (including this scribe) are still without electricity or water for over 48 hours later despite Herculean efforts by the KESC to effect emergency repairs. Not to be outdone in compounding the situation, anti-State forces, ever ready to fan ethnic and religious disturbances, lobbed a grenade into a bus, killing eight and wounding many others. But for the presence of mind of the bus driver, who drove the carnage vehicle straight to a hospital, the casualty list would have been much higher.

The power shutdown symbolically represents a greater breakdown psychologically, that of the social and economic fabric of the nation. As the civic facilities go past the fail-safe line, the seething frustration of the masses is coming to a boil. While all this was fairly predictable, the shocking aspect of the whole affair seems to be that nobody seems to be incharge of this great port city, the economic lifeline to the nation. Indeed despite Ms Benazir’s best efforts, there seem to be a crisis of leadership in the entire country. As far as Karachi is concerned, the Sindh CM seems to have abdicated responsibility. Since the elected Mayor and his councillors have been largely sidelined, a grey area exists between the civil administration and the LEAs. The LEAs are responsible for law and order problems but the civil administration is adrift for the most part, responding half-heartedly to both the political and military leadership, unsure as to whom to turn for central direction. The tragedy is that no single entity exists to organise and coordinate civic relief to the masses of Karachi, whether in crisis or normal times. During the rain devastation the civil administration was totally dependant upon individual dedication and initiative rather than any coordinated, cohesive countering of the catastrophe. In modern cities, a central CRISIS CONTROL automatically takes over most of the TV and radio time to give directions (and relief) to the public, here PTV remained an oblivious bystander, giving only passing mention to the unfolding tragedy. Over a 100 lives have been lost in Karachi due to the unprecedented rains and related problems, why is the administration sitting on its haunches, if not its hands?

While the social fabric of the nation is being gradually eroded, those who have the power to arrest this rapid decline to catastrophe have taken it upon themselves to remain uninterested observers for the most part. What is happening in Karachi is being repeated in different fashion all over the country but the people who matter are deliberately avoiding reading the writing on the wall. They are like the wind which cannot read. By avoiding responsibility can they avoid culpability? If this is a deliberate neglect to foment anarchy, it has been extremely successful but if anyone is of the opinion that beyond a fail-safe line anarchy can be controlled, then no lessons have been learnt from the 1971 experience. The Constitutional oath should be changed from “even to the peril of my life” to “even to the peril of my career and comfort”. How many of us have the courage to stand up and be counted in such circumstances ? There is nothing more inexpensive than patriotic rhetoric and fervour without the commitment to face the consequences. Unless we take steps to control the ever-worsening ethnic and religion-accentuated problems, the civic failures will only force-multiply into a state of total apocalypse of the social and economic fabric of the nation.

Focussing on priorities to halt this slide into anarchy, the prime area of national concern remains the city of Karachi. In the absence of elected representatives, there is immediate need to appoint a person of known dynamism and integrity to be the overall “Supremo” of this city. This person should not only have total control of the civil administration and the civic facilities including KESC, KWSB, KMC and KDA but he should also be a person with known credibility with the population. All law enforcement agencies should answer to this man without question. For purposes of mass psychology about the perceptions and trappings of power, let us call him a Lieutenant Governor or whatever. There is nothing new in the concept of a functioning city government, only the dire necessity of such a mechanism comes to focus during times of disaster. In the absence of elected representatives, there is need to appoint a benign “dictator” for a fixed period of time to bring this city back to its feet without further loss of time. The name of one outstanding person with experience in Karachi comes to mind. Maj Gen Hedayatullah Khan Niazi, presently Chairman NHA, had a superb record as Administrator Defence Housing Authority (DHA) Karachi, transforming it from a rundown heap into the glowing sub-metropolis that has survived indifferent succession (and even blatant corruption). His known honesty and integrity got him picked for the thankless job at NHA in the first place, this appointment (which is certainly no bed of roses) would be the psychological boost required by the citizenry to restore credibility in the system. Whether he is chosen or someone else shaped in his mould, we have to make immediate moves in this direction to restore civic sanity to this city. If the situation persists, Karachi will terminally fail, not immediately perhaps but certainly so in the future, so will the nation.

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