The Karachi dream

Courtesy:- Kahar Zalmay


There might be the presence of individual militants but to generalise that every Pashtun is a Talib or sympathiser of the Taliban in Karachi is wrong

Karachi was once a city of dreams where everybody, irrespective of race, colour or creed had the opportunity of prosperity and success and an upward social mobility through perseverance and hard work. Whoever you were and wherever you came from in pursuit of your dreams, you were received eagerly by this magnificent and truly metropolitan city. But this city of dreams and lights has been turned into a town of nightmares and darkness during the last two decades.


Senator Shahi Syed in his late 50s, known to his friends as Shah Saab, epitomises the Karachi dream. He came to Karachi in 1971 from a small town of Babuzai in District Mardan when he was hardly a teenager. “I had no idea I would make it to where I am today but I knew that Karachi was the place in Pakistan where my dreams could come true,” said Mr. Syed, dressed in crisp white shalwar kameez with a matching waistcoat, a strip of red fabric placed in his coat pocket, the colour of his party (Awami National Party).

Initially he would do odd jobs in daytime and continue with his studies in the evening. “It wasn’t an ideal life but it was peaceful and comforting like the lap of a mother. Karachi indeed is our mother. It has given us warmth and love,” Shah Saab, father of 12, reminisced about his early life in Karachi.

Within a short span of 10 years, using his entrepreneurial skills and ingenuity, Mr. Syed, who had come in search of a better life to Karachi, became a taxpayer himself. A remarkable feat indeed and could have been achieved only in Karachi within Pakistan. What was the secret of his success, I asked him. It was commitment, perseverance and hard work, he said. He is the face of ANP in Karachi, having been appointed its provincial president in 2003. His routine life is very hectic and you can’t miss this seeing his four cell phones randomly placed on the table at Pakhtunkhwa House, formerly known as Frontier House in Islamabad. Every time his phone rang, he answered it with an apologetic smile. “Isn’t it too much for you Shah Saab?” I asked him. “This responsibility is being entrusted to me by my party and in addition to that I believe that it’s payback time to help my people who have no one else to go to,” he said, his eyes on his typical Pashtun face glinted, showing seriousness and a genuine concern for his people based in Karachi and other cities of Sindh. 

“There are around five million Pashtuns in Sindh and with the efforts of our election cell, around 80 percent of them got registered as voters, a gigantic task to convince our stubborn Pashtun brothers who got settled in Karachi before independence to get themselves registered as it would benefit them in the end. Pashtuns need to assimilate in Karachi, they should call it home,” Shahi Syed said, reflecting visible exhaustion and frustration, a message loud and clear how difficult an art politics is. Despite having a sizeable strength in Karachi, for the first time in the history of Pakistan, two MPAs were elected from Karachi on an ANP ticket. 

“But you are accused of turning your back on the presence of the Taliban in Karachi, a clear double standard,” I confronted him. Shahi Syed kept quiet for a while and after regaining his composure said, “Look, there might be the presence of individual militants but to generalise that every Pashtun is a Talib or sympathiser of the Taliban in Karachi is wrong. It is also brutal to ask people in Karachi to fire their Pashtun workers, linking them with militants. The Taliban have killed our members and workers and we have no soft corner for them wherever they are, but please don’t marginalise Pashtuns in the name of the Taliban,” he said.

His party was once a liberal leftist party but now it is accused of toeing the line of the military establishment, I put another tough question to Mr Syed, who is known for his fiery speeches. “It is not us who are toeing their line but it is them who have realised now that what they were calling jihad, we called it pasaad (anarchy). Our elders believed that interference in the internal affairs of our neighbouring country in the name of jihad was not in the best interests of Pakistan but they were condemned as traitors,” Mr. Syed said in a very emotional tone. “Now the military has realised this after experiencing the blowback effects of the war they once called jihad. Better late than never,” he added. “And your party respects the territorial integrity of Pakistan?” I asked.” Absolutely,” he replied. “This debate should have come to an end when Bacha Khan became a member of parliament and took oath expressing his loyalty to this country.”

When I said that why couldn’t there be peace in Karachi again if his party sat down with MQM and sorted out their differences through political means, Shahi Syed took serious notice of me calling MQM a political party. “Let me correct you. MQM is not a political party but a mafia, whose trademarks are bhatta (extortion) and boriband laash (dead bodies in sacks). They have not fought with us only but with every other ethnic group in Karachi and Hyderabad. They want every non-mohajir (migrant) to leave Karachi and that’s the reason anybody, even a Sindhi who does not hold a matriculation certificate of the Karachi board, cannot get admission in any college in Karachi. Have you seen this kind of discrimination anywhere in the world?” Shah Saab said in a highly charged voice. “It is very unfortunate that Pashtuns are acceptable to the world only as watchmen, drivers and shoe-polishers but not as journalists, engineers and doctors,” he said, sounding logical and convincing. 

“What needs to be done to scare away the ghosts and make Karachi the city of lights and peace again?” I asked. An across the board operation against criminals by the military be launched and it should not be against any particular party, religious group, ethnic group but bhatta mafia, land mafia, drug mafia and most important of all, thappa (stamp) mafia, to ensure free and fair elections. “And why the military,” I interrupted. “First, 186 police officers got killed who carried out the operation in the 1990s; no officer is willing to risk his life or that of his family, so it can be executed only by the military;” he pointed out. 

“Second, a deweaponisation campaign needs to be launched and I voluntarily offer to start it from my own house. All sorts of guns, licenced or unlicenced, should be confiscated as there are not only reports of disappearance of 22 NATO containers loaded with weapons but also there is the statement of Rehman Malik that 100 guns were carried to Karachi against a single licence. Third, free and fair elections under the supervision of the army to be held so genuine representatives make it to parliament and the environment of fear is dispelled. We want an authentic census report and delimitation of constituencies as there are reports of minimising the number of Pashtuns in Karachi and Hyderabad,” he said. 

“My fight is not just for the rights of Pashtuns but to liberate all those who have been made hostage by the mafia, even the media itself,” Shahi Syed said with a mischievous grin. “I want Karachi to be the city of lights and hope for every child of this country as it was for me some forty years ago,” he said with a wave of nostalgia. Does he honestly think that peace could be restored to Karachi, I asked him. “Yes. If the military makes a sincere effort, restoring peace in Karachi will be a matter of days, not weeks and months,” Senator Shahi Syed said firmly.

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