Political Writing
Up In The Air
I AM 75 years old, and as far as I can remember, the civil-military establishment in Pakistan has always told us that the country is in danger. However, they never told us why we were...
Karachi Violence
1. Background In the month of August, I interviewed 14 persons belonging to the violence affected areas of Karachi to get their views on the situation in their neighbourhoods and their perceptions for the reasons...
Local Government Reform In Pakistan: Some Issues
The contents of this article are drawn from my personal experiences of working since 1971 in various areas of Pakistan under three different local government’s systems, some literature that I value, and important surveys that...
Local Government Reform in Pakistan: Some Issues
My talk is derived from my personal experiences of working in various areas of Pakistan (mostly in Sindh and its capital city of Karachi), some literature that I value important surveys that have been conducted...
Land and the Politics of Ethnicity
Politically motivated targeted killings, sectarian violence, forced occupation of other people’s property, illegal bulldozing of poor settlements, an increasing crime rate and an increasingly helpless and corrupt administration, are making Karachi ungovernable. There are many...
Only Questions: No Answers
I belong to a generation that has lived through many periods of hope: hope that was shattered again and again. One of the reasons why hopes generated in such periods were never realised was our...
The Governance Related Repercussions of Constitutional Deviation
The present political crisis has been discussed to death in the press, and before it was curbed, in the electronic media. However, its governance related repercussions still need to be analysed. The process of trying...
What Karachi Requires
The Local Body Ordinance was imposed on us by an unelected government in 2001. It was supposed to be the panacea for all our governance and development related problems. Through indirect voting in a ruthlessly...
What is Karachi Really Fighting For?
The fundamental cause of the alienation among Karachi’s lower middle and working class population does not lie simply in the ‘deprivation’ suffered by the mohajirs and the absence of an effective local government for the...
