Nightmare in Karachi

It takes a lot to frighten Karachiites, accustomed as they are to lawlessness and a crumbling infrastructure. But a darkening cloudy sky after a burst of sun last Friday was enough to panic matrons getting their beauty treatments.

“It’s going to rain. Again,” pronounced one. The others sighed as they got up. “Allah khair karay,” said one. For the city’s citizens, it is a lesson learned time and again. Appeal to the divine rather than the government.

“The more things change, the more they stay the same.” The saying may well be running through the minds of Karachiites as they emerged bedraggled, exhausted, deprived and bewildered from the torrential rains that enveloped the city last week. A monsoon season that had been predicted in advance by the Pakistan Meteorological Department. And yet it was as if the city administration received the memo only when the skies opened up. Shell shocked, the only sign of life they exhibited was on social media: walking in the rain purposefully, clad in their plastic raincoats, pointing to this and that. It remains a mystery what the pointing in the air was about, because people continued to suffer as the rain battered the city as power cuts added to the misery.

Officials offered sage advice to avoid disasters by saying stay at home. And what of those who needed to venture out like the man stranded in waist high water in Defence Housing Authority (DHA) who needed insulin for his mother? He was rescued by a citizen in a four wheeler who took him to the pharmacy. Many who stayed at home in DHA were marooned in ankle and knee deep water as the gutter water and the rain merged to form an oily slick.

It was the same story as in 2020, yet no one seems to have learned any lessons from that debacle. At that time, infuriated residents had tried to meet the head of Cantonment Board Clifton to register their protest who not only refused to meet them, but also registered an FIR against those who had the temerity to invade his office. This year, the DHA citizens confined their protests to social media.

Undoubtedly, this year’s monsoon season has been brutal, buttressed by climate change, but Karachi’s infrastructure cannot handle even rain. President Jamaat-e-Islami Karachi, Naeem ur Rehman said, “This situation is due to the lack of government preparedness to deal with urban flooding. Rains have become a norm, but still both the provincial and federal governments are not ready to invest in the infrastructure despite the fact that Karachi is still sharing highest proportion in country’s economy.”

Perhaps it is a pipe dream, but is it possible for the federal and provincial government to stop nit picking and trying to be one up and actually collaborate to improve Karachi? Sadly, it seems as unworkable as Imran Khan actually speaking to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif although he is quite willing to talk to militant outfits. Misplaced priorities have doomed the economic hub of Pakistan.

In such circumstances, it is up to the charitable institutions, the army and the citizens to help during disasters. Jamaat-e-Islami’s charitable organization Alkhidmat deserves a special mention for their wonderful work during the rain emergency when they ran a Free Shuttle Bus Service to facilitate people, cleaned sludge and drains, used inflatable boats to rescue stranded people and disinfected areas.

Many areas which were submerged in water have emerged not unlike a mummy from the sarcophagus. The bumps and cracks emerging on their never smooth surface as roads have melted away have ensured a roller coaster ride for commuters. The annual job of the provincial government is to paper over these cracks like putting band aids on asphalt, because the roads have been built with substandard material which corrodes in the monsoons.

DHA residents are counting their losses and complaining about the high taxes they pay for zero service delivery. Weekly tankers are the norm and they look in wonder at other areas which actually get water in their lines. Some say it is akin to living in a jungle and regret moving to this side of the Clifton Bridge.

While the poor drainage system of the port city is a factor, authorities in 2020 had made the poor the scapegoats for their incompetence, by blaming the encroachments along the storm water drains for the flooding. Two years of anti-encroachment drives aimed at widening the drains made thousands from slums homeless, but did not improve the situation.

When a motorcyclist in Shadman Town decided to take a U turn in the heavy rain, he did not realize that the patch of water was an overflowing nullah. His wife and infant son drowned while the man and his daughter were saved. The body of the child has yet to be recovered. This nullah was one of those that had been dug up and left as it is because work was ongoing. When the city administration knew the monsoons were coming, why did they not cordon off the area? Officials expressed regret and said that since the family was not from that area they had made a mistake. Such an excuse makes a mockery of their post. No wonder then that Karachi has been abandoned. The citizens are its biggest asset, but they are unable to organize themselves to ask for their due.

“Jo na jaanay haq ki taaqat,
Rab na devay uss ko himmat.”
– Bulleh Shah