Salaam !
I couldn’t come over on this website/forum for a whole month since I was there in Karachi, Pakistan. My parents were brought up in the city and they as well as I have got a lot of memories from the city of lights. I personally used to live in Muscat, Oman but visited Pakistan every year during vacations so have a slight idea about how life in Pakistan especially Karachi could be. After moving to Canada, travelling to Pakistan every year is not a walk in the park.
In this thread I would like to give my feedback about what I came across in terms of social, psychological and political fabric over there.
Travelling through PIA:
First time in my life I would fly with the airlines, and had a chance to experience their customer service. Looking at their quality and behavior of Flight Attendants it’s not hard to determine that they are mostly hired due to some quota, connections or nepotism, anything but merit and qualifications. There was a lack of correspondence within what any employee would say. I would also fly back to Toronto in a PIA flight. Apart from that I think majority of us are aware of the news of scandals and criminal activities where name of PIA was tagged or mentioned.
At Karachi airport, someone took one of our suitcases by mistake and left. I and my mother went straight to the luggage claims office and there what a beautiful sight would await us. This cat was having a lunch right at the entrance and this black cat was roaming around, and I am not sure if either one of them was a pet of the officer/official sitting there recording the complaints / queries. The best or gruesome sight was of this RAT who was jumping over the luggage like Tarzan, yes a RAT. Imagine if any foreigner witnesses such a sight after coming to Pakistan, we were Pakistani Canadians otherwise.
Incidents which would make headlines when I was there:
Now let’s come to what mindsets and theories I would come across while interacting with people
Ethnic grudges: There’s too much Punjabphobia and other sorts of ethnic prejudices that continue to plague people’s minds. Karachi is indeed going through a lot of crisis in terms of water and electricity and the complaints on behalf of citizens do make sense but does it mean that anyone start abusing Punjabi brothers and declare Sharif brothers the leaders and representatives of whole Punjab? I am from an Urdu Speaking background but don’t consider MQM or Altaf Hussain as my representatives or godfathers.
Sectarianism : Whole interacting with majority of my relatives , hateful and negative thoughts against Shias would come at surface. I don’t want to share whatever remarks they would come up with. But all I could do is you live with your opinions and let me live with my own ideas.
These are slogans which I bump into over there:
Imran Khan Yahudi agent.
Khurshid Shah Shatim-e-Rasool or sometimes even Kafir because of what he would say about Muhajir identity, and the Takfir was done by not some religious group but MQM.
G.A. Altaf (as usual)
Humein manzil nahi rehnuma chahiye (We don’t need a destination but the leader/guide) by MQM
Kafir, Kafir, Shia Kafir
America Murdabad
Zinda hay Bhutto Zinda hay
Zinda hay Khomeini zinda hay (On 7[SUP]th[/SUP] of June it was death anniversary of Ayatoullah Khomeini)
Gutter ka gund , Junaid Deoband
I also bumped into this Masjid beside area of Burns Road where it was clearly written that it is for XYZ Maslik right at the entrance. Is there any end to this sectarian and ethnic warfare ?
Corruption in every walk of life
Whether it’s medical or education department, I would come across stories of cheating and fraud almost everywhere. Clinics and labs were functioning without any proper license and extracting money in the name of X-rays.
I knew this dentist over there that would come over to Canada and practice without any local certification. In the end, he would extract money, trick people and eventually escape to Pakistan. Now he’s running an institute somewhere in Defence area and in his ads he talk about his “qualifications” from Canada whereas I knew the reality, however I couldn’t bump into him anywhere. Those who are living in Karachi can ask me if they want any information about that man.
In education sector, there’s an industry of paper leaks that many people are making money from. Right in front of my eyes, I saw people discussing about handing papers before exams, and even heard about some gentlemen who graduated without even stepping into any college or university, after all who watches games or movies one night before the exams?
And such syndicates now operate with the assistance of certain political parties.
How can Karachi and rest of Pakistan prosper?
Karachi still holds a very important place in my heart and it’s not like I didn’t have a good time over there, I did visit malls etc….including Paari Mall and Clifton beach, and enjoyed the tasty foods over there. And regarding the issues faced by the city, it’s an open secret that a fully functional and strong Local Government has always been the need of the city. People were not wrong when they said that Zaradri Raj has ruined the glamour, lights and beauty of the city. I was there when LG elections in KPK would take place and I also heard certain good things about Imran Khan and the way he reformed the police in KPK
. More administrative divisions are also necessary for Pakistan and with LG system; the funds are distributed at lower levels/layers of power. Regardless of which party the winning candidate is from, at least the mayor or deputy mayor hails from the city or district where he reside so he has a sense of responsibility towards his area after all people from his neighborhood will curse or question him after his tenure gets over.
Returning back to Pakistan?
Honestly speaking, this decision is hard to make. It’s mostly the fight between my heart and brain. I never really lived in Pakistan, even though I dream about it. But honestly, over 80% of people including my old friends (from Muscat) and relatives would ask me not to even think about moving (back) to Pakistan since its really tough and difficult for overseas Pakistanis like me to come over to my own country and adjust over there. And one needs to think about his career too. Anyways I don’t think there’s a conspiracy to keep me away from Pakistan, after all what harm or benefit can I do if I choose to stay there?
There were certain moments when people whom me and my parents would hold so dear for all these years, would turn into something which we couldn’t expect. You can call it some sort of emotional disappointment but I guess that’s how life is. This family friend of us who now lives in Texas had already told me once that Pakistan is not that Pakistan anymore, it has changed with passage of time and so have people’s attitude and priorities. In short the era of 1980s and 90s is not there anymore and now certain things have changed for worse, and the peace of mind and environment of trust have pretty much vanished
Apart from that I heard about certain cases from our relatives which clearly depicted the downfall of our society. There’s so much greed, deception, falseness and mistrust in Pakistani society of these days that one gets really disturbed with the idea of living in Pakistan. However, I have a dream of living in Pakistan somewhere in my heart and I hope someday I hear about many overseas Pakistanis moving back to Pakistan with the assurance of not getting robbed or harmed.
I would welcome if anyone else on this forum especially the overseas ones, have any good idea about it.
I couldn’t come over on this website/forum for a whole month since I was there in Karachi, Pakistan. My parents were brought up in the city and they as well as I have got a lot of memories from the city of lights. I personally used to live in Muscat, Oman but visited Pakistan every year during vacations so have a slight idea about how life in Pakistan especially Karachi could be. After moving to Canada, travelling to Pakistan every year is not a walk in the park.
In this thread I would like to give my feedback about what I came across in terms of social, psychological and political fabric over there.
Travelling through PIA:
First time in my life I would fly with the airlines, and had a chance to experience their customer service. Looking at their quality and behavior of Flight Attendants it’s not hard to determine that they are mostly hired due to some quota, connections or nepotism, anything but merit and qualifications. There was a lack of correspondence within what any employee would say. I would also fly back to Toronto in a PIA flight. Apart from that I think majority of us are aware of the news of scandals and criminal activities where name of PIA was tagged or mentioned.
At Karachi airport, someone took one of our suitcases by mistake and left. I and my mother went straight to the luggage claims office and there what a beautiful sight would await us. This cat was having a lunch right at the entrance and this black cat was roaming around, and I am not sure if either one of them was a pet of the officer/official sitting there recording the complaints / queries. The best or gruesome sight was of this RAT who was jumping over the luggage like Tarzan, yes a RAT. Imagine if any foreigner witnesses such a sight after coming to Pakistan, we were Pakistani Canadians otherwise.
Incidents which would make headlines when I was there:
- The hanging of Saulat Mirza
- Safoora Attack
- Axact scandal
Now let’s come to what mindsets and theories I would come across while interacting with people
Ethnic grudges: There’s too much Punjabphobia and other sorts of ethnic prejudices that continue to plague people’s minds. Karachi is indeed going through a lot of crisis in terms of water and electricity and the complaints on behalf of citizens do make sense but does it mean that anyone start abusing Punjabi brothers and declare Sharif brothers the leaders and representatives of whole Punjab? I am from an Urdu Speaking background but don’t consider MQM or Altaf Hussain as my representatives or godfathers.
Sectarianism : Whole interacting with majority of my relatives , hateful and negative thoughts against Shias would come at surface. I don’t want to share whatever remarks they would come up with. But all I could do is you live with your opinions and let me live with my own ideas.
These are slogans which I bump into over there:
Imran Khan Yahudi agent.
Khurshid Shah Shatim-e-Rasool or sometimes even Kafir because of what he would say about Muhajir identity, and the Takfir was done by not some religious group but MQM.
G.A. Altaf (as usual)
Humein manzil nahi rehnuma chahiye (We don’t need a destination but the leader/guide) by MQM
Kafir, Kafir, Shia Kafir
America Murdabad
Zinda hay Bhutto Zinda hay
Zinda hay Khomeini zinda hay (On 7[SUP]th[/SUP] of June it was death anniversary of Ayatoullah Khomeini)
Gutter ka gund , Junaid Deoband
I also bumped into this Masjid beside area of Burns Road where it was clearly written that it is for XYZ Maslik right at the entrance. Is there any end to this sectarian and ethnic warfare ?
Corruption in every walk of life
Whether it’s medical or education department, I would come across stories of cheating and fraud almost everywhere. Clinics and labs were functioning without any proper license and extracting money in the name of X-rays.
I knew this dentist over there that would come over to Canada and practice without any local certification. In the end, he would extract money, trick people and eventually escape to Pakistan. Now he’s running an institute somewhere in Defence area and in his ads he talk about his “qualifications” from Canada whereas I knew the reality, however I couldn’t bump into him anywhere. Those who are living in Karachi can ask me if they want any information about that man.
In education sector, there’s an industry of paper leaks that many people are making money from. Right in front of my eyes, I saw people discussing about handing papers before exams, and even heard about some gentlemen who graduated without even stepping into any college or university, after all who watches games or movies one night before the exams?
And such syndicates now operate with the assistance of certain political parties.
How can Karachi and rest of Pakistan prosper?
Karachi still holds a very important place in my heart and it’s not like I didn’t have a good time over there, I did visit malls etc….including Paari Mall and Clifton beach, and enjoyed the tasty foods over there. And regarding the issues faced by the city, it’s an open secret that a fully functional and strong Local Government has always been the need of the city. People were not wrong when they said that Zaradri Raj has ruined the glamour, lights and beauty of the city. I was there when LG elections in KPK would take place and I also heard certain good things about Imran Khan and the way he reformed the police in KPK
. More administrative divisions are also necessary for Pakistan and with LG system; the funds are distributed at lower levels/layers of power. Regardless of which party the winning candidate is from, at least the mayor or deputy mayor hails from the city or district where he reside so he has a sense of responsibility towards his area after all people from his neighborhood will curse or question him after his tenure gets over.
Returning back to Pakistan?
Honestly speaking, this decision is hard to make. It’s mostly the fight between my heart and brain. I never really lived in Pakistan, even though I dream about it. But honestly, over 80% of people including my old friends (from Muscat) and relatives would ask me not to even think about moving (back) to Pakistan since its really tough and difficult for overseas Pakistanis like me to come over to my own country and adjust over there. And one needs to think about his career too. Anyways I don’t think there’s a conspiracy to keep me away from Pakistan, after all what harm or benefit can I do if I choose to stay there?
There were certain moments when people whom me and my parents would hold so dear for all these years, would turn into something which we couldn’t expect. You can call it some sort of emotional disappointment but I guess that’s how life is. This family friend of us who now lives in Texas had already told me once that Pakistan is not that Pakistan anymore, it has changed with passage of time and so have people’s attitude and priorities. In short the era of 1980s and 90s is not there anymore and now certain things have changed for worse, and the peace of mind and environment of trust have pretty much vanished
Apart from that I heard about certain cases from our relatives which clearly depicted the downfall of our society. There’s so much greed, deception, falseness and mistrust in Pakistani society of these days that one gets really disturbed with the idea of living in Pakistan. However, I have a dream of living in Pakistan somewhere in my heart and I hope someday I hear about many overseas Pakistanis moving back to Pakistan with the assurance of not getting robbed or harmed.
I would welcome if anyone else on this forum especially the overseas ones, have any good idea about it.
