Megacity Maladies
By Zohra Yusuf
K “arachi’s citizens are said to crib about their city more vociferously than those living in other parts of the country. The litany of woes includes uncollected garbage, overflowing sewerage, pot-holed roads and severe water and power shortages. Yet, there is very little understanding or knowledge of how the city turned out to be that way. Arif Hasan’s Understanding Karachi: Planning and Reform for the Future sheds light on these very issues.
There couldn’t be a more appropriate title for Hasan’s authoritative study. But the word authoritative does not imply here a dense, pedantic style. In fact, the complex problems that confront the metropolis are explained so lucidly that they have an eye-opening effect. Reading Understanding Karachi is akin to being walked through a maze. The journey, though, is not a passive one since the book raises as many issues as it explains, provoking and engaging any reader interested in a better understanding of the chaos that has become synonymous with Karachi.
A Karachi-based architect and urban development specialist, Hasan’s approach to the myriad problems faced by the city has always been free of rhetoric. In all his earlier writings and talks Hasan has attempted to present a rational analysis of ground realities based on firsthand knowledge, hard facts and figures. The same qualities are apparent in Understanding Karachi and its readers are sure to emerge wiser about the city that epitomises
all the problems of ad hoc growth. The first of several failed attempts to introduce some form of urban
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planning to Pakistan’s largest city began soon after the first military take-over on October 7, 1958.
Following protests by students of Karachi University – then located close to the seat of government-the decision was taken to shift the university (along with other assorted troublemakers’) to the city’s outskirts. The author shows the repercussions such political developments have had on Karachi’s infrastructure and its status on the country’s map: “In
Understanding Karachi
Planning and Reform for the Future
Arif Hasan
Understanding Karachi: Planning and Reform for the Future
Arif Hasan (with assistance from Muhammad Younus and S. Akbar Zaidi)
City Press
Karachi, 1999 Price: 295 rupees
1958, Ayub Khan established military rule in Pakistan and took a number of decisions that have affected Karachi and its relationship with the rest of Pakistan. Ayub decided to shift the capital to Islamabad and also decided that the refugees should leave the city and the working classes, migrating into the city from other areas of Pakistan, should also be discouraged from living within the city centre.” This in turn resulted in the emergence of satellite towns in the Landhi-Korangi and New Karachi areas from where a large number of people began to travel to SITE, the Karachi Port and the city centre. Since all the commuting took place through Saddar, this historic city centre soon became a victim of environmental degradation and never recovered from it despite several efforts by well-meaning
conservationists. According to Hasan, the long period of military rule also had an impact on Karachi’s ethnic composition. “The military rulers of Pakistan,” he points out, “were from the North-West Frontier Province… They patronised the people of their area and helped them in establishing businesses, industries and transport activities in Karachi. In addition, they were recruited as port, industrial and building site labourers as they were considered more hardworking and reliable
The Herald, July 2000
than the locals. They were also recruited in the police and security forces and, by the late sixties, Karachiites, of refugee origin, had been elbowed out of these professions.” The resentment caused by this blatant favouritism perhaps fed the ethnic tensions and violence the city experienced in the decades to follow. As for the demographic pressures and the severe shortage of civic facilities, jobs and housing, it only exacerbated the scenario, ending Karachi’s status as a ‘melting pot’.
Besides having adverse economic effects, this thoughtless development also led to the marginalisation of large sections of the city’s population. The case of some of Karachi’s oldest goths or villages is quite revealing: “Much of the land acquired for formal sector development in Karachi was used by many of the over 1,200 goths… that are located in the Karachi division. This land was used for grazing and agricultural purposes. Although much of it belonged to the government, it was let out to the goths on a one-year-renewable lease.
A large number of these goths have now become a part of Karachi’s urban sprawl and since they no longer hold any land for agriculture and pastoral activities, they have lost their self-sufficiency. Over the years, they have become marginalised from the mainstream of Karachi’s social and economic life and the residents of many of them are under pressure from developers and government development agencies to move out of their present locations. Ironically, it is Karachi’s original residents who have been the main victims of its development and expansion.”
Despite these myriad problems Karachi remains a prosperous city, showing a dramatic improvement in income levels over the years. Comparative figures for 1973, 1980 and 1989 show a remarkable increase in high- and middle-income groups, with a corresponding decrease in the lower ones as well as those below the poverty line.
The citizens of Karachi, apart from being the highest taxpayers in the country, also have to pay for every civic service they utilise, more often than not unofficially.
Lea Market encroachments
Water tankers at the Muslimabad hydrant
The author reveals how dalals or agents arrange for all such facilities at a price, of course for katchi abadis. Even the poorest of the poor pay bhatta or informal tax to government functionaries at various levels for services which may at times even include the opportunity to earn a living. In a fascinating chapter on the functioning of the city’s transport, Hasan reports: “Almost all encroachments in key locations in Karachi are related to the transport trade. These encroachers, hawkers, beggars and push cart operators pay bhatta to the civic agencies and the police so that they may carry on their businesses. According to a URC [Urban Resource Centre) survey, in one and a half sq. km in the Saddar area, encroachers pay Rs. 110 million per month. In the Lea market area, the figure is Rs. 54 million.”
It’s hard to imagine a slim volume of about 170 pages
containing such a wealth of information presented in an easily accessible form. But that is only one of the book’s charms. Hasan also uses seperate boxes to highlight the initiatives of various local non-governmental organisations such as
the Orangi Pilot Project or Shehri-Citizens for a Better Environment and to focus on specific cases and viewpoints. Similarly, a list of recent evictions in Karachi provides an insight into arbitrarily drawn up development plans as well as the unholy nexus between land-grabbers, politicians and government agencies. Understanding Karachi also includes social indicators for the city and lists the groups and organisations (official and unofficial) that are active, in some form or another. The publishers too deserve credit for the thorough editing and, more importantly, for keeping an extremely useful book at an affordable price.
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The Harald, July 2000
