From one Karachiite to another – Dil Se
Who will change Karachi?
Will you wait for the invisible ‘THEM’ or will you ‘BE THE CHANGE’
Is resilience the biggest positive AND the biggest weakness of Karachiites?
Is resilience the biggest strength AND the biggest weakness of Karachiites?
That’s the question every Karachiite should be asking & pondering over. Till all of Karachi doesn’t unite, doesn’t stand up for itself and till the people don’t come out of their homes to demand something be done … no one will do anything for Karachi & nothing will change.
Till you stop thinking as a Sindhi, Punjabi, Balochi, Urdu speaking & Pathan, nothing can be done. Think of yourself as only a Karachiite.
Many of you have not spoken in the past few years… every year when the same calamity strikes. Now, because YOUR comfort is affected, you are finally complaining. Relying on electricity run by generators & tweeting about how sad the situation is will not change anything.
The blame game is going strong for Karachi’s situation. But when has Karachi stood up and said: “I don’t care whose responsibility it is, just do the work that this city deserves”.
Karachi will keep bleeding & drowning unless you raise your voices now.
While you are praised for your resilience, has this resilience become a heavy burden for you to bear? Are you making those accountable secure in the knowledge that you WILL bounce back? Because … you are Karachiites?
Kya aap kisi aur hi mittee kay baney huway hain that you suffer in silence, you step out and risk your lives to save your city, your neighbors, a stranger on the road because those responsible can’t or won’t do it?
Many times, so many others have brought Karachi to a standstill but now Karachiites need to bring everything to a halt, to a standstill, till something is done… till there is some form of accountability.
It’s time each one of us asks these questions:
Should we let go of that resilience or turn it into anger & protest and a demand for accountability? Should we consciously stop ‘getting on’ with it? Or, should we become dheet and demand a change before we slip back into our daily lives, only to brave another storm tomorrow? To ‘manage’ and ‘carry on’ because we are resilient?
Is this resilience our biggest strength AND our biggest weakness?
Karachi waalon, learn to harness your power, know your value and demand accountability.
If this city is so important that one month of rain will affect Pakistan’s exports … then why can you not get due attention? Why cannot roads, infrastructure, electricity, phone lines, parks for young and old residents, essential services be made accessible to the city that gives so much to Pakistan?
A substantial chunk of Sindh’s GDP, around 95% is attributed to Karachi (the GDP of Sindh as a percentage of Pakistan’s total GDP has traditionally hovered around 25%-30%). Karachi’s GDP is around 20% of the total GDP of Pakistan.
Source: Wikipedia
Abdul Razak Dawood, adviser to Prime Minister Imran Khan on Commerce, feared the rain would hit exports.
Dawood said on Twitter.
“Our exports consignments are being delayed and hence our exports for the month of August may be affected,”
All we say to the people of Karachi is: Ask for accountability, ask for change. It will happen but you have to stop taking things as they are … don’t stop asking till CHANGE happens.
Sitting within the comfort of your drawing-rooms with generator-run electricity and donating money for 10 charity schools is not the answer, it doesn’t take away the responsibility of Karachi…
Maybe it’s not just resilience but ‘taking the easy way out’ is also why your city, your Karachi is drowning?
So if you are a person of influence, belonging to any field, living in Karachi, it’s time you use your influence to bring about the change.
