If you live in Karachi, MQM is like a part of your everyday existence - they are happy, you are happy. In the recent episode of the murder of one of their people, Raza Haider, Karachi once again came to a halt.
I left for work early morning and found my way empty, which to a Karachi driver is the equivalent of a rainbow (almost never seen in Karachi). But of course I got happy too fast and ended up a couple of feet away from a torching and stoning session in full swing. I turned back and headed home - that was that... it was a holiday!
The feeling was of when I was a kid and would get to school early morning sometimes to find out something or the other has come up and the school is off. This was a very rare occurrence in Islamabad, my home town, but it did happen. But my unexpected holiday was nothing how I would've hoped it would be.
All of Karachi was shut down, so much so that I think even the roadside phoolwalas and magazine walas didn't come into work; hardly any beggars either. I made my way back home in yet again complete emptiness and a fear gripped the air.
As I watched the news channels one after the other I realized Karachi was a war zone and our government a perpetual joke. The death toll kept rising and one by one everyone I know who had been able to get to work in the morning started heading home. The fear of more violence drove everyone indoors.
On the third day, today, Karachi is still suspended in this situation of complete mayhem, with nearly 70 people dead and another 200 injured. As the murders, torching of vehicles, shops and pushcarts continue, the citizens have been left to fend for themselves. The government remains uncertain and has played no part in establishing routine in the city. Are our authorities always going to stay so defenseless? Will we never know a peaceful life? It seems to me that the government considers the protection of the lives and property of the people secondary to maintaining their own status by issuing statement after statement. Instead of discouraging our morally and professionally incompetent media from creating unnecessary hype - they insist on giving meaningless statements every other hour.
We really need some new blood in our leaders, a new dawn needs to break soon... Our choices are failing and it is about time for a change. I propose if people are to die - it may as well be a revolution! Maybe something better will come off of it....
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