KARACHI CHRONICLE: London Mayor's visit

Sadiq Khan Mayor of London arrived in Karachi last week on the last leg of a six-day goodwill mission to India and Pakistan. He played cricket, met university students, attended a book launch, paid an obligatory (for VIPs) visit to the Quaid's mazaar and, surprise, surprise, was feasted by Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah. This was amazing. Is Khan really a mayor? We Karachiites suspect he isn't, for who ever heard that a mere could be so highly honoured. The Chief Minister does not give even the time of day to the city's Mayor Wasim Akhtar.
If Khan was really a mayor his itinerary for Karachi would have included a meeting with his counterpart, Karachi's Mayor Wasim Akhtar. It is clear Khan did not have a say in who he was to meet or hob nob with in Karachi. His itinerary was planned by people who wished to avoid stepping on the tender toes of the Sindh government which sees Mayor Akhtar to be just a member of the rival MQM and ignores the fact he was elected mayor by the people of Karachi, therefore, dispite his MQM affiliation Akhtar's prime status is that he is our mayor. It is, however, not Khan's a fault he did not meet Akhtar. Perhaps he was unaware that Karachi has a mayor.
His ignorance is excusable because the city does not look like it was run by a civic body. The mayor has no money to do his duties, most of which are not even in his hand but in that of government departments, such as cleaning up the mountains of refuse which are found everywhere along roadsides, except the route a VIP has to travel.
If asked why Karachi's Mayor was not invited to meet the Mayor of London, the government of Sindh might pass the buck to Akhtar and say he preferred to attend the MQM public meeting in Hyderabad the same day Khan was in Karachi. Wasim Akhtar certainly was in Hyderabad, but he could have came to Karachi to meet Khan, firstly because the distance between Karachi and Hyderabad is not thousands of miles; secondly because the MQM public meeting was scheduled for late evening.
From whatever Khan said in his peptalk to students and the media it seemed as if he was merely saying kindly things which were diplomatically correct. Imagine saying: I can learn from Karachi. What could he learn from Karachi? How to live in a chaos? How to exist without basic amenities? How to live in slums because there is no housing scheme for people who really need homes?
It was ridiculous to advise us how to succeed. He said, 'You can be successful if you work hard, then you can get a helping hand and you can do whatever you want to do.' Really? What about lack of jobs, what about discrimination in government jobs, what about lack of better schools and colleges for the non-elite?
The London Mayor's real purpose was to promote business between UK and Pakistan. Since Karachi is the financial hub of the country he, perforce, had to come here. Little did he realize by ignoring the mayoral scenario of Karachi he was insulting the city. Again, one does not blame Khan that he was called upon to behave like a politician rather than a mayor.
Karachi's many problems will not be solved until there is local government which is effective. This city contributes the highest income tax but gets not a pittance for its maintenance or growth. However much you may criticise former Mayor Mustafa Kamal for misusing funds, he did make Karachi look like a modern, vibrant city in his tenure. Of course he, and his predecessor mayor both had the patronage of the military ruler General Musharraf. That is actually the thorn in the flesh of PPP-led Sindh government. It scrapped the Local Bodies and, despite having allowed a mayor to be elected, have handed over none of the money needed to overhaul this city. Whatever is being done here, such as building underpasses, is being done by the government, not the civic body.
The Sindh government alone is unaware that Karachi is a cosmopolitan city and if people vote for MQM's candidate for mayor it is not because we are all supporters or sympathizers of the political party. One general election I visited the Korangi labour colonies, where there were party flags of every contestant. But when I asked people, some Punjabi, some Pathan, Bengali and Mojahir women, who they would vote for, the majority said MQM. Why? The Majority said because they deliver. So, handicapping the incumbent mayor and civic body has prevented them from delivering this time. Will it prevent a MQM man to be elected Mayor? Now or anytime in the future. In all probability it will not. So the PPP should stop being dog in the manger.