Karachi Society...

Karachi is known as ‘city of lights’, but here the topic is not on Karachi as a city but Karachi as a society however, in this context according to me Karachi society is likewise a ‘society of lights’. Lights symbolize brightness, awareness and most importantly something which is full of life. I believe awareness is increasing in this society and accessibility to knowledge has also improved over decades and individuals living in this society are full of life and interesting in their own ways, in spite of the difficulties and problems they have to face in order to survive in a metropolitan city, they all have a remarkable story of their experiences attached to them.

There is definitely an uglier side of Karachi society too, as it is with every other society.  We see a great diversity in this city, as there are Sindhis, Punjabis, muhajirs, and so on, and there is no one ethnicity that dominates the entire Karachi (except in some areas). However, there is no unity within this diversity, and we see major ethnic conflicts taking place in this society, giving rise to ethnocentrism and further fragmenting the society. Karachi society is also mainly patriarchal but we see the trend changing over a period of time, (in mostly urban areas) gradually there is increasing number of women joining workforce, etc. People living in this society are also becoming immune to violence and corruption. It’s ‘no more a big deal if 10 people are killed in a bomb blast or if we give 100 bucks to the traffic police man as a bribe to get away with breaking traffic rules’ as people say, we have been made insensitive and hard hearted even towards human life.

However, in spite of all the drawbacks, we see individuals, or small groups of people are still refraining themselves from the evils of the society like corruption, violence, ethnocentrism, so on and working towards a better society in Karachi. These people are as much as a part of this Karachi society and we can’t ignore these people and isolate them from society just because they are minority, because it is usually the minority who has brought about massive changes in the history.

Nageen Pervez 

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