2 days ago
Karachi is sinking and we let it happen!
Massive downpours along with flooding have so far killed over 500 people in the country since June 14. PHOTO: EXPRESS
We lulled ourselves into believing that the floods and landslides devastating Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistan would never reach us. We comforted ourselves with the lie that Karachi was somehow immune, that climate change would punish the north but spare our city. We were wrong—dangerously wrong.
Today, Karachi, a megacity of more than 20 million people and the economic engine of Pakistan, is sinking. Not just because of climate change, but because of decades of looting, mismanagement, and our own complicity.
The local betrayal
Our political parties—Jamaat-e-Islami, MQM, PPP, and PTI—perform the same theatre every election cycle. They sell us hate, pit us against each other, and promise miracles. But once the votes are counted, they shake hands, split the contracts, and carve Karachi into fiefdoms. The Boss distributes the share.
Local bodies have never been about service delivery. They became nothing more than a profit-sharing pact. Garbage, water, housing, public transport—every crisis was turned into a contract. Every institution was hollowed out.
But the betrayal is not only local.
The donor illusion
For two decades, international donors and lenders have poured billions into Karachi through the Sindh government. They promised clean water, modern transport, stronger governance, and climate resilience. What we got were ribbon-cutting ceremonies, glossy reports, and projects that stalled, were restructured, or quietly disappeared.
The World Bank committed 382 million dollars for the Yellow Line BRT and 230 million dollars under the Competitive and Livable City of Karachi project. Years later, commuters still cling to rickety buses, and garbage piles remain untouched.
The Asian Development Bank, AIIB, AFD, and the Green Climate Fund pooled over 500 million dollars for the Red Line BRT. Construction delays have left citizens stranded again.
Other loans targeted water, sanitation, and flood resilience: 40 million dollars for KWSB reforms, 105 million dollars for solid waste, 500 million dollars plus another 450 million after the 2022 floods, and nearly 300 million dollars for water and agriculture transformation across Sindh.
The record is clear: money was never the problem. Accountability was. And donors who keep writing cheques without demanding proof are not saviours. They are enablers.
Citizens as silent partners
Here is the truth we do not like to admit: we are not innocent bystanders.
We kept voting for the same faces, the same parties, the same hate instead of capability, capacity, and integrity. We endorsed the cartel. We tolerated opacity. Every ballot we cast based on political biases became permission for plunder. Our silence bought their share. Our votes became their loot.
The proof of what works
And yet, Karachi has shown us another path. The Orangi Pilot Project proved that citizen-led solutions can succeed where expensive, donor-driven paralysis failed. With little funding and complete transparency, communities built sanitation systems, housing, and microfinance.
That spirit can rescue Karachi—but only if scaled up with enforceable rules, open audits, and citizen oversight.
What must change
1. Political accountability: No more blank cheques at the ballot. Any party that wants Karachi must agree to public audits, spending dashboards, and performance contracts. Karachiites must say no to the Boss who selects the shareholders without the consent of stakeholders.
2. Donor accountability: No more cheque first, governance later. Every rupee must be trackable in real time, tied to independent audits and citizen oversight. If donors will not enforce accountability, their money is nothing but fuel for corruption.
3. Civic accountability: Karachiites must organise beyond party lines. Demand service-level guarantees for water, waste, transit, and drainage—and refuse to endorse anyone who will not provide them.
The hard truth
Karachi has not suffered from a shortage of capital. It has suffered from a shortage of accountability: political, donor, and civic.
Shame on the donors and lenders who refuse to witness the outcome of their unacceptable funding. Shame on us Karachiites for staying silent while corrupt people are imposed on us again and again. And as for the political parties—there is no need to shame them. They are only doing what they were hired to do: to loot, to divide, and to cash in.
Karachi is not sinking only because of climate change.
It is sinking because we let it.
And if Karachi drowns, it will drown in our silence first.
