Karachi-The city of lights...

“When you look at a city its like reading the hopes aspirations and pride of everyone who built it”- Hugh Newell Jacobsen-

Being the largest city of Pakistan and having the main sea port, Karachi is always open to businesses, be it industrial or banking. It is the capital of the province Sindh and the original capital of Pakistan until Islamabad was constructed. Karachi is ranked as the Beta world city. After the independence of Pakistan, the city population increased dramatically when hundreds of thousands of Urdu-speaking migrants(Muhajirs) from India, East Pakistan which later became Bangladesh, and other parts of South Asia came to settle here in karachi. In terms of urbanization, Karachi has always been an urban city, always well aware of the updates going around the globe. It is a home to people belonging to diverse ethnic backgrounds from all over Pakistan as well as other countries. The culture of Karachi is quite different from other cities of Pakistan, since it was the city which was the choice of the majority at the time of partition- thus, a blend of Middle Eastern and South Asian culture is seen in the city. In terms of society, it is the largest city where most middle class families of the country reside. Its ethnically diversified nature makes people, of different ethnicities, quite comfortable around each other. People of different religions respect and celebrate their fellow citizen’s festivals. Regardless of religion and cast Eid, Christmas and Diwali are celebrated by almost everyone in the city. This mediocrity in the nature of the city makes it a favourable place to enjoy and live. But with the passage of time, Karachi is turning into a city of social and political chaos, be it the condition of our traffic or our mind, in every area we have started to lack tolerance. There are different income groups and no such balance in financial statuses can be seen, some people are filthy rich and some can hardly make to basic necessities. Also these days, people are under terror and fear due to uncertain security conditions. It is, undoubtedly, a diversified society but in my opinion it lacks pluralism. However if government and people both play their parts fairly in the society, then it would not be very difficult to brush of the dust of problems from the city.

Shumaila Amirali