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Karachi is the “shah-rag” (jugular vein) of Pakistan, not Kashmir . It is one of the four divisions of Sindh, its population is growing at the rate of 4.8 percent (national growth rate being 2.9 percent), out of which nearly half is produced by migration. The city contributes 25 percent of the country’s GDP while its bank accounts are 50 percent of the country’s total bank accounts; it issues 72 percent of the total capital in the country.
Karachi’s 10 million plus population was only 435,887 in 1941. It was battered by periodic diasporas from other countries: from 1972 to 1978, it received 350,000 refugees from Bangladesh; from 1977 and 1986, about 300,000 people came in from Iran and Afghanistan. “Illegal” immigrants from Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and the Philippines, who work as domestic help, are estimated to be 200,000. A city infrastructure meant to serve only 400,000 people is being made to serve over 10 million. …
The chief minister of Sindh knows that Karachi kills its policemen like flies. Today, on the basis of 2003 figures, the position is that Sindh is spending about Rs9 billion per annum, as opposed Rs34 million per year in the 1950s, on the police alone, who now number about 93,000. In addition, the expenditure for 25,000 Rangers and 8,000 Frontier Constabulary is also being met by the Sindh government. As a whole, 16 to 18 percent of Sindh’s revenue budget is spent on law and order. About 20,000 private security guards are also out there to protect the life and property of affluent Karachiites. Yet if you want someone killed, Rs50,000 is the going rent-a-killer rate. …