For anyone that's been to both Karachi (largest city in Pakistan) and Lahore (second largest city in Pakistan), how do you compare the two? From everything I've read, it seems like Lahore is far better off than Karachi. I guess it's because there aren't any ethnic tensions in Lahore like there are in Karachi.
I was surprised that greater Karachi had 18M people. Overall, another great piece by Surush Alvi. The depressing part was the city dump. The craziest part was the ride along with the hitman. He was visibly shaken after that interview.
I have never been to Lahore but hearing from people who are familiar with both, this sounds to be true. That being said, Karachi is the economic engine of Pakistan and subsidizes the rest of the country. (a little less than 3/4 of tax revenue for the country comes from Karachi). The issues in Karachi screw over the whole country really.
I've been visiting Karachi for family and business almost every summer and winter since the last 16 years, and the place has become very different since 9/11. Parts of the city are very safe and relatively clean if you have money and know the right people (military, politicians, wealthy merchants, and local police). Other parts I would not go to without an armed escort, but often times that just attracts attention and gets you killed needlessly like a friend I once knew. On one occasion two years ago, a local political worker was riddled with bullets standing in line at a restaurant not 10 feet away from me. There were pieces of brain matter and about a liter of blood mixing with mango peels and plastic bags on the street after the deed was done. Needless to say, unless you're savvy, stay the hell away until a revolution or something drastic happens to clean the place up.
Finally watched the whole 5 videos. What a ****show. Not even sure what you can do anymore. The seed of division and hate have been planted. Ethnic conflict like this cannot easily be reversed, especially when politicians are winning elections and making money off of it. Pakistan is going to eat itself alive soon. It's only a matter of time. Also on a side note, what ethnicity are the Pakistanis on this forum? I can never get an honest opinion from people regarding their view of the ethnic politics of the country which to me is the scariest part. If people outside of Pakistan can't find the courage or energy to honestly speak out, there's no hope in my mind.
From what I've read/know through what people who have lived there claim, Karachi is historically the most important city in Pakistan. This is both a good thing and a bad thing. When Pakistan was in its infancy as a country, Karachi was the tie that held it together. It was the land of opportunity uniting all the regions. Cities like Lahore/Islamabad had little value economically and couldn't hold a candle to the promise that Karachi held. Karachi was the economic center as well as the educational center. Jobs were abundant (relative to subcontinent standards) and the chance to make it big was there. Most every major Pakistani corporation (oil, textile, etc..) was centered in Karachi. This attracted some of Pakistan's biggest names and brightest minds to the city, if they weren't already living there that is. The Karachi stock exhchange was a pretty strong market ~ the 80's. Believe it or not, the rupee to dollar exchange rate back then was less than 20 dollars back then! Around 18 ish in the mid 1980's if i recall correctly. That's actually incredible considering the rate of 94 rupees nowadays. This was due in no small part due to the economical happenings in Karachi. The problem though is for an unstable country like Pakistan it also attracted the other end of the spectrum as far as people go. Gangsters, extremists, etc.. made the move as well. Don't get me wrong, these people were already there as well. Apparently the gangsters of interior sindh (the province karachi is located in) from surrounding areas were already up to corruption and lawlessness. But you add to the fact that pathans were brought in as cheap labor. Then you have displaced Balochs along with trouble makers from various other ethnic backgrounds in Karachi and the situation is a powder keg. What started out as a place that held a promise of opportunity soon became abused and exploited in very way by everyone imaginable. This includes but is not limited to: the government, the gangs, the police force, the politicians, the religious leaders, the corporations, the military. Every faction that could lend a hand in instability did. They ultimately preyed on the illiteracy, poverty, and general fear of the every day man and took advantage of that. In the end, it was the every day man who suffered the most, but they city itself payed the biggest price. Over time Karachi became a melting pot ready to blow. Political instability and extreme poverty over the years along with exploitation by corrupt government officials compounded the problems exponentially. Hence a big reason why things are the way they are now. This is a course that was set in motion decades ago. So, Karachi has and probably always will be Pakistan's center of attention. Sadly it is also its biggest mess.
How does Karachi compare to Islamabad? I've heard Islamabad is a much newer, cleaner, and safer place.
I've been to Islamabad a few times, most recently in December. It's no where near the size of Karachi. It's definitely the cleanest, most modern city in Pakistan, but that's only for keeping up appearances since it's the capital. At least that's the vibe I got. It's pretty much an extension of Rawalpindi, which is much larger in terms of population and size (and older, dirtier, and more dangerous than its neighbor Islamabad). One of the coolest parts of my recent trip to the subcontinent was taking a taxi from my hotel in Amritsar, India to the Indo-Pak border and crossing into Lahore. Very interesting to see the differences between India and Pakistan.
I was traveling in the region from mid-December of 2011 until the end of February (took a 3-month leave of absence from work). Back in the US now.
What was the big difference in your mind? Interesting to see that Punjab is different depending on the side you are on.
Amritsar probably felt like Lahore did back when my grandfather lived in Lahore in the 1930s. It's much less crowded than Lahore. The people on both sides are the same ethnicity, so pretty much looked the same. The only difference is Muslims on the Pakistan side and Sikhs on the Indian side. The food is also essentially the same on both sides. It's just interesting (and sad) that a line has been drawn and on one side there are Sikhs and the other side there are Muslims. My last name is Punjabi, so everyone just assumed I was Sikh. When I told people I was going across the border to Pakistan they wanted to know all about it (what the people were like, what they thought of India, what Lahore is like, etc). It really was quite fascinating, especially since my parents, aunts, and uncles back in the US (who were actually born and raised in Pakistan, unlike me) asked me the same questions about India once I got back to the US.
s land balla- do you think the tension between India and Pakistan started before or after the split? Could a united East India (that is, the way it was under British rule) survive as it's own state or are the groups too radically different?
