The Londoner

A day from today, more than seven million voters in Karachi will choose to exercise their right of electing a local representative who will manage their issues of basic governance. But it is not simple as that. This is Karachi; dynamic and volatile, where even matters of basic governance come with a great amount of baggage, be it from the way local governments have been formed and managed in the past or from political quarters that directly impact the performance of candidates elected on local government posts. The News sat down with key leaders of the four major political stakeholders — Waseem Akhtar of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, Hafiz Naeem-ur-Rehman of the Jamaat-e-Islami, Ali Zaidi of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and Najmi Alam of the Pakistan People’s Party — and discussed with them their expectations and fears for beyond whatever happens on December 5. Below are the leaders’ exclusive responses to a common set of questions which mostly pertain to matters of basic govern...

By Sikander Hayat Who is responsible? There are major fires in all major cities of the world but the frequency of such incident in Pakistan is extraordinary. Some of the reasons are as follows: 1. The role of money in granting permits to have industrial waste in close proximity to housing 2. Not near enough investment in the fire fighting equipment 3. No adequate training for the fire fighting staff 4. Corrupt nature of the political class which does not care enough for people and has no sense of public duty 5. Regional political rivalry between MQM & Pakistan Peoples Party as both parties are quick to claim Karachi as their own but where good government is required, none of these two take responsibility. People like Sherjeel Memon & Farooq Sattar were quick to apportion blame on each others parties but PPP being in the government should have taken responsibility instead of wasting time in press conferences while Karachi was on fire. Following steps nee...

By Sikander Hayat  Lyari is one of the eighteen constituent towns of the city of Karachi , in the province of Sindh, Pakistan . It is the smallest town by area in the city but also the most densely populated town. It is bordered by the towns of SITE Town to the north across the Lyari River , Jamshed and Saddar to the east, and Kemari to the west across the main harbour of Karachi . This town is infamous for its gangs and continuous violence among those gang to control the turf in the city. Drugs & arms smuggling are the main reasons why gangs fight to the bitter end to control the profits. Many police operations have been conducted in this area but the issues still linger as these operations are not followed up by the economic development. Infrastructure in Lyari is creaking under the pressure of population and poverty is rampant. Pakistan Peoples Party has been the political party of choice for the people of Lyari for many years but the party has not delivered the bett...