If you plan to set out in the political jungle in search of the Government of Sindh, my advise is, do not waste your time. It does not exist; its an illusion. It would be as ridiculous as searching for a living breathing Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto just because some people insist "Bhutto zinda hai", "Bhutto lives".
People of Sindh are confused. They do recall that four years ago they had elected some guys and gals in a general election who promised they would be more loving and caring than General Musharraf. They know that there is something called the Sindh Assembly, but they cannot find the place. Life has not changed for the better, it has changed for worse than what it was four years ago. All the problems of the common man are firmly in place. They include galloping inflation, ever-increasing price of fuel, water and power shortage, breakdown in law and order and people behaving like gangsters instead of democratic representatives, using bullets to settle issues on the streets of Karachi rather than through dialogue in a civilised manner. So do not search for Democracy either. It does not exist, it's an illusion. Men in uniform of Rangers and Riot Police with their guns water cannon and teargas decide the fate of the people.
Nothing is what it is supposed to be. For instance, there is something called an Amn Committee, it is not peaceful. Thugs die in a street gunbattle and the party to which they belonged claims they have sacrificed their lives for a cause. What cause? Traffic jams are not caused because there are too many vehicles on roads; they are caused by blockades set up by angry protesters. Official death count is 90 percent fake; add a zero to the official figure and you will get nearer to the true death toll, more or less.
The most confusing thing is what is called Sindh coalition government. It allegedly includes the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and Awami National Party (ANP). The meaning of coalition has been turned inside out. This is not an alliance, a temporary agreement, because there is not a single issue on which the three parties agree and they treat each other as bitter enemies.
A proof that there is no Sindh Government is that every time there is trouble in the province, particularly in Karachi, somebody, usually Rehman Malik, occasionally the President himself, comes down from Islamabad to set things right. They do not ask the elected representatives to handle the situation, they ask the Rangers and Police force. A favourite attempt to calm street rage is to order an inquiry and threaten that the miscreants will be severely dearth with. The inquiry and threat are mere window dressing since to this day there has been no report of an inquiry made public, the gangsters roam about freely to kill or be killed.
Since the Sindh Assembly and ministers do not exist for the public, the public expresses its voice on Sarwar Shaheed Road outside the Karachi Press Club (KPC). Endlessly there are large crowds expressing their anger at something from the shortage of water and power to the non-payment of salaries to non-fulfilment of the promise to regularise service to sit ins. The road is blocked, the din of slogans and angry speeches and hate messages on loudspeakers, as well as the problem of entering and leaving the club is a pain in the whatever for KPC members. But we put up with it. We grumble and curse the public and the neutered government but we put up with it.
Not all who gather outside the KPC to protest know the Press cannot help solve their problems. It is pathetic to see people who have trekked all the way from Badin or Nawabshah (sorry to use this name, the new name is far too long and sounds like political propaganda rather than the name of a town) even people from Balochistan. What can we do to help? We take pictures, write press reports, film for TV channels and anchor persons do interviews. The public does not know the people who can help, those so-called elected representatives, are politically illiterate, deaf and blind. The news reports and TV talks have no positive effect on them, it is like water off the duck's back.
Previously, people came to the KPC to protest because here they were safe from police manhandling. Things have changed. The protesters are no longer safe before the KPC. The street has become a war zone with water cannon, teargas shelling and arrests of protesters just because they are protesting and not for criminal activity.
Even if the KPC can do nothing for the people, and most of them know that, they still come because it seems to make a lot of noise acts as a mental release. Now even here their voice is being silenced. So anybody who still believes there is a democratic government in Sindh should be sent forthwith to Hyderabad, where they have a fine mental hospital, Giddu Bandar.
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