Thursday 29 March 2012

Death and the city

I was crossing the Kashmir Road Society Office intersection today morning on my way to my brothers' school when I saw approximately 50 mazdoor (labourers) sitting on the footpath adjoining the roundabout. They were mainly Pathans or maybe Afghans and looked very grim.
Day before yesterday, Karachi was burning because 2 political workers had been ambushed http://thinkaholick.blogspot.com/2012/03/1-upon-karachi.html Yesterday evening, one ANP worker was shot dead in a busy district of Karachi. http://samaa.tv/newsdetail.aspx?ID=45305&CID=1 Within a few hours, traffic had thinned and the city had reverted back to its blood-thirsty counter-strike mode. 

In my mind I was trying to think what those labourers might be thinking. For them, the bloodshed and sectarianism was meaningless. Their struggle in life is to provide two square meals for themselves and their families. What is the meaning of political killings to them? Two days of lost work during one week which will only add to their economic and social problems. They have sunk two days back in time compared to the rich. This divide is getting wider and wider and unfortunately forcing such people to the point of frustration. As I rode around the corner back on my way after a while, I could see their depressed eyes. They looked tired...from the fight they had to consistently engage in for their survival in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan...a nation that was envisioned to be an embodiment of justice and equality...unfortunately it ain't no more.

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