My Karachi

I moved to the USA in 1990’s but whenever I tried to remember my hometown Karachi I cherished it’s trees, wide roads, cool evenings, trips to sadder and watching foreigners shopping in shorts. Then reality kicked in and nightmare begins.

I was very young when East Pakistan separated from us. But I still remember the horrors of those days. Balckouts, no more sugar with milk because we are at war with India. The war which was unnecessary and breakup can be avoided but our Punjabi majority Army did not see it this way.

I was in sixth grade when I heard about marshal law and then Bhutto hanged. Everything is very blurry after that curfew and riots. No more quick trips to the bazaar, dirty looking men everywhere, who speaks strange kind of Urdu. I asked my mom are we attacked by India.

I was in college when Bushra Zaidi got killed by mini bus driver in Karachi. Karachi we know of changed on that day. I heard a term Mohajir and then MQM got very active in regional politics. In my view to this day Karachi is burning and we all suffered through it. After the riots Gen. Zia got a license to send as many troops to our beloved city as possible. He got number of reasons of hating Karachi.

It is a home of folks who or whose grandparents/parents migrated from India in 1947, so in a way they are responsible of breaking Punjab in two.

Literacy rate in Karachi is much higher than other parts of the region, which makes them smarter than others.

Karachi is a capital of Sindh the home of our first elected Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto.

Punjabis being in the area much before refugees came are everywhere in government and not to mention in army. Refugees are not the only one who left behind other ethnicities suffered great loss too. Some of them are very far behind in education and basic needs.

Gen. Zia took care of this problem by closing down the universities and colleges and to this day all karachities lack behind in education by a year or two than their counter parts in other cities. It is common sight in Karachi to find police from Punjab. I do not have anything against Punjabis there are many who lives in Karachi and call it home. Why hire from outside when there are lot talent available in Karachi or in whole Sindh. How can they understand local grievances? But who cares atleast they are not lacking Punjabis behind, who despise refugees on their talent. In the rule of Zia there was a great influence of student faction of fundamental Jamat-e-Islami in educational institutes. There were few incidences of Bleach spraying while I was a student there, two of my class fellows victimized. I know Karachi never going to be same as it was in 1970’s.

If I can imagine real hard I can still remeber my old Karachi where we all co existed with every ethnicity. I had sindhi, balochi, punjabi, english, pustho, bengali speaking friends in school and college.