I was thinking what would become of Karachi and the green CNG rickshaws, (legacy of debunked General & President Musharraf) if Altaf Hussain, Pir of London, Imam of Mohajirs of Karachi, were to suddenly transform from being a leader of MQM into an erstwhile rickshawala.

First, he won’t get any license. PPP wants all Sindhis, mostly un-educated and belonging to interior, to do everything. From sweepers to customs officers at port, to PIA’s various GMs, and the President of the god-damn country.

If in case he gets the license, he will do lot of things.

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Have you wondered why most of the under-belly of Baloch colony flyover is blocked for traffic. Well, it is because of the creeping encroachment out there. And it gets really dirty when it rains hard as rain water gets blocked. It is really unfortunate that such a prime place is being encroached upon right under the nose of the administration and nobody seems to care. Mr. Mustafa Kamal, the mayor of Karachi, who jumps around building roads and bridges and parks, is requested to wrest this land from land mafia before it is too late.

Today Daily Times carried this report:

6 Korean women go missing in Karachi

Staff Report

KARACHI: Six Korean nationals have gone missing in Karachi ever since they arrived from Islamabad, Daily Times learnt Tuesday.

A reliable source in the police department told Daily Times on the condition of anonymity that the six women have been missing since the first week of August. They were identified as Kim Hyung Yam, Park Yun Jeong, Park Hee Jeong, Lee Soon Im, Hwang Eui Hyang, and Lee Yeonhee.

Dr Kyoung Yong Kim, chief of the Korean Mission, wrote the Inspector General of the Sindh Police Sultan Sallahuddin Babar Khattak on August 7, requesting help and better security for Korean nationals. Capital City Police Officer Karachi Wasim Ahmed confirmed the news.

This news items is not good for investors at all and is a serious headache for security agencies responsible for foreigners. An added risk here is of rape and mutilation as all captives are women. Karachi, already reeling from one of the worst economic crises, must not be falling on these issues. It is such news which gets splashed across world headlines and foreign investors gladly turn to India or Dubai.

It’s independence time once again and we wish to congratulate all of you and ourselves on this auspicious occasion.

Now, some history lessons.

I wish to have here listed pre-partition Parsi buildings in Karachi. We know lot of Parsis lived in this city and they did some wonderful construction work. Now, sadly around 2000 odd-Parsis are left and we morn their departure. But we can recall our city’s glorious past and its wonderful builders below. My takes:

1) Mama Parsi school, Saddar.
2) Nusserwanjee Mehta Parsi Maternity Home. Foundation stone was laid on 20th December 1917.

This beautiful yet little known colonial building is situated at Zaib-un-Nisa street, Karachi. It now stands locked up by its owners who live just behind it. In the complex there is the grave of its founder, Khan Bhadur Nusserwanji R. Mehta. He was born on 8th June, 1853 and died on 8th December, 1931.

More buildings to be noted below as comments.

14th August is just round the corner and we’ve decided to have some of the wonderful memories of partition related here by the authors and commentators. Stories which you have been fed by your grandparents or your parents, who migrated from across the border to begin a new life here in the country made for democracy and equal rights for ALL citizens. Stories my grandparents tell me often, follow:

My grandparents (father side) lived in Bahunagar and then Bombay. My grandfather used to have a tea stall which he used to run along with his elder brother, Ahmed. British army was their regular customer and when they came they came in droves and all the war chat would take place there, albeit in English, a language my grandfather never really understood except for the morsels. He also tells me, whenever in good mood, that Hindu banyas were also his prized customers and they would be very rich and very tidy in their manners and style.

Then they came to Karachi, Pakistan.

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Mangroves are a wonderful being of ALLAH. They are species of plants which thrive in saline waters. Their roots grow best under fertile land and maybe found at places where deltas are formed due to discharge of river (sweet) water into sea waters (saline). They are important for survival of countless land and sea species and hundreds of thousands of men earn their livelihood through them (fishing, cutting trees, making homes, hunting, etc). Therefore, it is imperative that such wonderful and unique species are preserved for the betterment of people and environment. That’s not happening. From the lead organization:

http://casestudies.lead.org/index.php?cscid=143

“In Pakistan, mangroves are found along the southern borders of the country along the coast of Sindh and Balochistan. The Indus Delta extends to an area of approximately 600,000 hectares of which 160,000 consists of mangrove forests. These are unique in the sense that they are considered to be the largest area of arid climate mangroves in the world”.

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It has come to my notice recently that Punjabi drivers are being asked to get off their vehicles. In short, they are being warned that if they go into Baluchistan they themselves will be responsible for the consequences.

That’s bad news for Pakistan.

For one, lot of Punjabis have been shot dead in Khuzdar city center. Some were recently killed in and around Quetta, including a Punjabi professor. Lot of Punjabi students studying at Baluchistan university have already left, according to my friend’s first cousin.

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I have a radical idea for Karachi and its citizens. For one, I think KESC is all crap now after Musharraf and company (specially his darling PM, Shaukat) sold this fine organization to a private company for peanuts. No external or internal audit reports have ever been shared with citizens who pay their blood to keep this outfit afloat. Yet it dismisses us all like we are beggars. So, ladies and gentlemen of Karachi, should be burn down KESC? I am sure we should. It is of no use; it fleeces honest men and provides electricity free of cost to VVIPs, VIPs, brothers and sisters of PM; it also does not help when it fails to dis-connect illegal connections; and since last two nights I and my family and millions of others have not slept well. Karachi is in crises and we need someone else to bring us electricity.

By the way, which should be the first KESC office to go down?