WHY DOES KARACHI ALWAYS PAY?
By Nadeem Zuberi

[This article first appeared in Business Recorder on January 09 2010.]

Death and destruction engulfed the heart of the metropolis when a bomb blast occurred in the main Ashura procession at M.A. Jinnah Road, killing and injuring hundreds, with the death toll still rising after a week, as many seriously injured fought a battle with death. Some have lost and some may lose their battle in the coming days. The gruesome act of terrorism was followed by violence in Karachi, the country's business hub, when miscreants went on a rampage, torching cars and shops, firing bullets in the air. But later on after about half an hour passed angry mobs, of 40 to 50 people, turned up in the area of Boulton Market, Light House and adjoining areas, where wholesale markets of various commodities are located.

These miscreants set the buildings, shops and godowns of the area on fire, which gutted around 6,000 shops and godowns and flats located in the market buildings, they also looted and damaged some banks and private property of the area people. Initially, it was declared to be a suicide bomb, but afterwards investigators obtained a video of the blast, recorded through the CCTV cameras installed by the city government. It was later found out that it was a bomb blast. The bomb was installed in a box and was triggered by a remote control device. When anything controversial happens in Sindh, why is Karachi targeted to vent anger? For how long will Karachiites pay the price of the wrongdoings of others? Who are the culprits who want to cripple Karachi for one reason or the other? The same took place at the time of the lethal bombing of Benazir Bhutto's convoy. Karachi was set ablaze.

The security agencies were nowhere to be seen, at any of the crime scenes for at least the next four hours after the incident. The owners of the shops kept crying for help to save their shops from the security agencies and fire-fighters, but in vain. In the October 27, 2007 rampage, a 100 billion loss was suffered by the citizens, because at that time a large number of petrol pumps and banks were damaged and looted. The fire at Boulton Market has caused a loss of Rs 40 billion to Karachiites and about 30,000 to 35,000 people became unemployed. People did recover their insurance claims in the October 2007 incident as the vehicles, banks and petrol pumps were insured, but in this recent incident, the owners of the shops and flats have no such option as 80 percent of the shops were not insured for religious beliefs. [Courtesy Business Recorder]

Regards