EDITORIAL: It took Prime Minister Imran Khan more than three years to realise that the central and Sindh governments would have to work together for Karachi to resolve issues that plague this largest metropolis of the country and its commercial capital. It was the prime minister, after all, who led the boycott of the PPP (Pakistan People's Party) and wouldn't even engage with the Sindh CM on his visits to the province. The federal government didn't listen to Sindh even when the latter warned it in writing about the locust threat a couple of years ago, even asked for spraying aircraft to preempt the threat; to no avail. It's good then that the PM himself is taking the lead in burying the hatchet also; for the good of the port city and the country's financial hub if nothing else. Speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony of the Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) project, where for once the Sindh chief minister was also invited, the PM couldn't resist the urge to lecture one and all about the most basic things as always, like the importance of a financial hub in this instance, but this time he went further and accepted that the federal and provincial governments would have to join hands to get the job done. Since there are certain things that the centre can do but the province can't, just like there are other things that Karachi can do for itself but Islamabad cannot be of much help with, surely it's basic common sense for both to divide responsibility and resources to ensure that the chips fall in their places.
This is, in all fairness, the very last chance for anybody to do anything for Karachi that might really make a difference. For, here's the country's financial heart, one-time capital, largest and most diverse city, and by far the largest contributor to the federal and Sindh's exchequer, yet reduced to a second-, perhaps even third-, rate shanty town where roads have been littered with garbage for many years, crime is far more common than justice, and even something as basic as water is in the hands of powerful mafias that nobody can do anything about.
The people of the city also feel, and very justifiably so, that PTI and PPP put roadblocks in each other's paths regardless of the cost to the public just to put the other down. They have got into the habit of disagreeing with each other even before anything is put on the table. In their case, it is not what is being said, rather who is saying it that matters. Maybe they'll forget the past and work together for the time being because both need some sort of momentum heading into the general election and this way both can try to claim any success that comes from this proposed partnership, of sorts, as solely their doing. The long suffering people of Karachi have come to the point where they would not even care about intentions so long as something is done to give them their rights and their city a chance to regain its lost glory. After all helping Karachi would, as the PM himself said, help Pakistan. There's no question that Karachi must be put right for Pakistan to march forward. But it's still very debatable how far this realisation has really set in where it really matters.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021
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