The Vulnerability of Karachi

By
Arif Hasan
(January 01, 2008)

The wound inflicted on the body politic of Pakistan by the judicial murder of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto has not healed despite the passage of twenty eight long years. Benazir was a balm for that wound. Her assassination has not only removed the balm but has opened a new wound for which there is no balm in sight.

Her assassination and the “law and order” situation it has created has brought into focus a number of issues which a simple resolution of the constitutional crisis will not overcome. These issues have been pointed out by the author many times in the last decade, especially when crisis have happened, but neither the media, the establishment or the politicians have taken them seriously. Two of these issues are important. The first deals with the nature of the “law and order” situation and the other with the vulnerability of Karachi. Both are closely interrelated.

First, the “law and order” situation. The looting, arson and destruction of property that has taken place is not a simple law and order situation. It has to be understood that you cannot create small islands of insensitive and arrogant affluence in a sea of increasing poverty and deprivation on the one hand and a ruthlessly manipulated political and judicial dispensation on the other.

In the eight years of Musharraf’s rule, already inadequate public health and education systems have collapsed. Private education is far too expensive for the poor to afford and so is public sector higher education. This has effectively curtailed social and economic mobility in an era where social values are changing and new aspirations are surfacing. In the last eight years there has been no investment in social housing and so people are now forced to live on the streets which they did not do before. Unemployment has doubled in low income areas and with it organised street crime has increased enormously. Inflation has broken the back of the poor while all around them are symbols of affluence and consumerism promoted by the media, bill boards and aggressive advertising by banks and leasing companies. The world of Pakistan, has in the last few years, been clearly divided between the haves and those who can-never-have as opposed to the have-nots.

Interviews with persons standing in long ques at the utility stores tell us that people wait there for hours just to save Rs 50 per month while above the utility stores are hoardings advertising Toyota cars and luxury items. Other interviews inform us that an increasing number of people who took a bus to work before now walk six to eight kilometres to and from work just to save Rs 15 per day while they are surrounded by an increasing sea of new cars and motorcycles. One news item that the press has not carried is that during the recent disturbances in Karachi, not only cell phones but a number of bicycles were also snatched. This is the situation in Karachi. The situation in the rural areas and small towns of our province is much worse. To put salt on these wounds our President and Prime Minister have informed us on more than one occasions that Pakistani society is rich and affluent since it has purchased more cars, TV sets, motorcycles and cell phones than ever before in its history!

Travelling in different parts of Karachi and from the city to beyond Ghagar Phatak via the National Highway, as I did on 30 December 2007, you see nothing but burnt out cars, trucks and trailors, attacked universities and schools, destroyed factories and government buildings and banks, petrol pumps and “posh” food outlets – all symbols of exploitation; institutions where the poor cannot afford to study; businesses where they cannot get jobs; government offices where they have to pay bribes and where they are insulted and abused. This is not a law and order situation but an outpouring, not only of grief, but of anger against corruption, injustice and hunger. Many of the food carrying vehicles were looted and around their burnt remains you can still see the remain of atta and sugar they were carrying. It is important to note that along the Highway no khokhas, small eating places and modest shops had been burnt or damaged.

The second issue is the vulnerability of Karachi. It has to be understood that unless issues related to political relationships, poverty, justice and equity are not resolved, this vulnerability will grow. The city depends on its hinterland for everything: water, food and livelihood for a large section of the population who work in the wholesale markets and the services sector. Government institutions, especially federal ones, that control much of the land and employment generating assets of the city have looted these assets for their own benefit. The persons who man these institutions and the politicians that support them have to realise that Karachi is the capital of Sindh and as such its resources are primarily for the people of Sindh, especially for the betterment of the provinces’ less developed regions. They have to realise that the city cannot survive a four to five day closure of the highways that supply it with food and the conduits that supply it with water and in the absence of these there will only be looting and anarchy, the beginnings of which we have witnessed in the last few days. Politicians have to realise that in the long run dependence on the army to guarantee the continuation of these supplies is not an option that should be pursued for it damages the democratic process and skews the relationship between the different actors in Sindh’s political drama. The only solution lies in striving for a broad based consensus on how the province is to be governed and developed. This consensus should not be based on political opportunism and so-called pragmatism but on an understanding of history and on moral and ethical values which alone can guarantee development and relationships based on justice and equity. In the absence of such a consensus, Karachi will remain vulnerable and the rest of Sindh will remain alienated from it.   

More on Understanding Asian Cities Here

Karachi - Nairobi - Cities

From
Joel Bolnick
SDI Africa
(January 10 2008)

“The looting, arson and destruction of property that has taken place is not a simple law and order situation. It has to be understood that you cannot create small islands of insensitive and arrogant affluence in a sea of increasing poverty and deprivation on the one hand and a ruthlessly manipulated political and judicial dispensation on the other.”

No doubt many of you may think that this quote is a reference to the situation in Kenya – given the information SDI has been sending out in recent days.

In fact it is a comment from Arif Hasan, one of our colleagues in Karachi, Pakistan. ( Arif's writing is opposite column )

Actually it is a quote that reflects the socio economic realities of many cities and countries in the South. It is a bald summary of the conditions that govern our global political economy.

Many of you have asked what - if any - assistance you/we can provide to the urban poor in Kenya in the wake of the violence of recent days?

No meaningful and lasting contribution to change can happen unless we recognize and act from the understanding that Kenya or Pakistan are not aberrations, but are quintessential and violent manifestations of the contradictions that govern the global order.

They are also very real images of a more generalized future.

Of course we need to treat the symptomatic outbreaks in countries like Pakistan and Kenya by responding to the desperate plight of the marginalized and the poor who have been devastated by state and market orchestrated violence. But we also have to act at the local level in such a way that it becomes more and more difficult for the inhabitants of the small islands of insensitive and arrogant affluence to ignore the reality that it can no longer be “business as usual”.

Another quote from Arif Hasan in Karachi: “Travelling in different parts of Karachi and from the city to beyond Ghagar Phatak via the National Highway, as I did on Dec 30, 2007, you see nothing but burnt-out cars, trucks and trailers, attacked universities and schools, destroyed factories and government buildings and banks, petrol pumps and ‘posh’ food outlets — all symbols of exploitation; institutions where the poor cannot afford to study; businesses where they cannot get jobs; government offices where they have to pay bribes and where they are insulted and abused. This is not a law and order situation but an outpouring, not only of grief but of anger against corruption, injustice and hunger. Many of the food-carrying vehicles were looted and around their burnt remains there is still evidence of the flour and sugar they were carrying. It is important to note that along the highway no khokhas, small eating places and modest shops had been burnt or damaged.”

Arif continues to argue that the only solution for Karachi and for the province of Sindh, in which it is located, “lies in striving for a broad-based consensus on how the province is to be governed and developed.”

This consensus, Arif argues “should not be based on political opportunism and so-called pragmatism but on an understanding of history and on moral and ethical values which alone can guarantee development and relationships based on justice and equity.”

Arif is talking about Karachi, but he may just as well be talking about Nairobi – or the small planet that we all inhabit.

Interestingly enough Arif’s arguments and his recommendations for a solution are being taken up practically in Kenya by our partners Pamoja Trust and the Kenya Federation (Muungano). This is what Jane Weru, Pamoja director, had to say in a short letter she sent earlier today to the SDI Secretariat: “right now I think we need to look at each other and just begin to find a common language that will help us to see and appreciate that despite our tribes or political leanings we have a common humanity that transcends all these considerations. It is major challenge for the federation to hold, as tribe, class and politics has come between many of us.”

Pamoja Trust sent out a circular late yesterday afternoon. In it they echoed Arif’s words: “The post election violence resulted from the dispute between the two prevalent political parties vying to form Government. However, it is Pamoja’s view that the election dispute only provided an outlet for deeper societal problems. This view is supported by the fact that the violence was largely situated around poorer localities”.

This brings us back to the question: what can we do to help – at least at the local level? Based on Pamoja’s recognition that
(a) this is a structural problem that requires a structural answer and that
(b) many thousands of slum dwellers have had livelihoods, homes and lives destroyed in recent days they are now seeking to seeks to address the provision of relief both on an emergency relief level, but also on a longer term structural level.

Slum Dwellers International will stand behind Pamoja and Muungano as they seek to address these challenges. Following upon the relief, mobilization and advocacy strategies that Pamoja and Muungano have already proposed, SDI will try, at this point, to provide three kinds of support.

a. assistance in good community and NGO driven documentation/surveys that identify who lived where, and who worked where, and what restitution plans are beginning to unfold. This is to ensure that the looting and destruction of homes and businesses is not used “conveniently” to evict those who have been affected.
b. assistance to ensure that all aid moves beyond welfare to produce future communities that work together with support from Pamoja, Muungano, SDI and other progressive institutions.
c. assistance in using the negotiations with the state to channel resources for welfare in a transparent and clear fashion.

Photographs of Toi Market were taken earlier today by Pamoja staff member, Irene Karanja.

From Nairobi

9 January 2008

Dear all,

Greetings after the long silence.

The magnitude of crisis is overwhelming. We have a press conference at our offices today and what communities are seeking to address is the gap........." we want media to give us space to speak, so much is being said about us but we need a forum to speak to others in other settlements so stop the violence"

A campaign has been started called the "Amani Mashinani" meaning " Peace at the Grassroots", by the communities that are rising up to cahmpion the call of peace. What theya re saying in todays press conference is that Media needs to be sensitive to the way they package their articles because the lack of sensitivity is costing lives that are going unrecorded.

There is a shortage of equipement to pick this stories and emotions. There is alot of bitterness, there is a an unbelievable turn of events each day. For example last night when the Vice President was announced, the residents in Kibera from the same ethnic background as the VP were touched and chased away in violence.


Have a great day.

Irene

From Nairobi

January 8th 2007

Dear all,
Happy New Year!

Unfortunately it is an extremely unpleasant start to the year for us in Kenya and it is especially difficult for the federation. Many federation members including leaders like Ezekiel and Joseph Muturi have lost both their homes and businesses.

The situation remains extremely tense and uncertain and it would be advisable re-plan the SDI meeting in Nairobi.

The post-election violence was especially intense in slum areas. The areas most affected by the violence are: Kibera, which included the complete destruction of Toi market; people killed, homes looted, burnt and many residents chased away in Mathare, Huruma and all the settlements in Kisumu.

Throughout the week Muungano leaders in Kibera and Huruma have been trying to mobilize residents and other community based organisations in these areas to stop the violence. It’s a blessing that Muungano is generally not ethicized. Unfortunately the political and ethnic forces are far stronger than the federation.

Our thinking is that Muungano has to come out strongly in the slums as reconciliatory factor. In spite of lessening violence, ethnic tensions are still very high. We will support Muungano to reach out and support affected people across ethnic lines, to rebuild their lives.

We are currently assisting the UN and Cordaid in identifying contacts and estimating emergency relief needs in the slums. Muungano, we feel, can be greatly effective in providing support for reconstruction of housing and trading stalls and provide credit for re-investment in business. Pamoja will use its trust fund for this purpose, however it appears that a lot more will be required than Pamoja’ resources. We would appreciate any efforts on your side to support reconstruction and credit.

Will keep you posted on the situation as it unfolds.

Regards

Jack