US Iran tension and property prices in Karachi

There are credible reports that Pakistanis in Dubai and other countries in the region are moving their wealth to Pakistan to buy property in their homeland. Prices of bungalows, apartments and plots have skyrocketed, particularly in Karachi's DHA. The main reason is that the US may attack Iran any moment, and the resulting war will cause destruction in Arab countries neighboring Iran (if it retaliates, as it has threatened).

It's been evident for a long time that the glamour of Dubai, Qatar and Kuwait is a sham. If there is even a minor disturbance there, like the public coming out on the streets to protest, the resulting panic will see a mass exodus of foreigners from these countries. The attacks on Iran six months ago by the US and Israel led to the shutdown of Dubai's airport. In fact, yesterday some major airlines cancelled their flights to Israel and the region, expecting an attack by the US on Iran. 

Let's hope sanity prevails and Trump can be persuaded to back down. 

Gul Plaza fire

DEATH TRAPS

Published in Dawn on January 23, 2026

Embed from Getty Images

THE recent fire at Gul Plaza proves that most buildings in Karachi remain death traps, and that nothing would be done to ensure that such incidents do not happen in the future. Of course, there are people in the government whose duty it is to ensure that buildings are constructed with adequate safety precautions and have at least two emergency exits. There must be those who are required to visit such buildings periodically and ensure that fire prevention SOPs are being observed.

And we can be sure that, on paper at least, such officials have reported that all places they have inspected are safe, just as there are factory inspectors who never visit factories because they are paid to stay away and generate all-good reports.

That said, can everything be blamed on the government? What about the shop-keepers themselves? It has been many years since I last went to Gul Plaza, and I saw that many shopkeepers had kept their goods in the passages leading to the exits. This would have made it very difficult for their customers to quickly get out of the building in an emergency.

As for fire prevention measures, it is simply out of the question. Purchasing fire extinguishers and recharging them every six months is both time consuming and cumbersome. And, in any case, why waste one’s money on frivolous things like fire prevention measures? Right?

Of course, if relevant inspectors had regularly visited the building and imposed fines on errant shopkeepers, this tragedy could have been avoided. But, then, such officials have only one thing in mind: how to speedily recover the money they have paid to get transferred to Karachi, and how to become millionaires in a couple of years. Absolutely tragic.

Shakir Lakhani

Karachi

https://www.dawn.com/news/1968588/death-traps

2,400 fires in Karachi in 2025!

The recent fire in Karachi's Gul Plaza should not have surprised anyone. It is reported that the city had 2,400 fires in 2025. Most of these would never have happened in we had honest government officers. The incredible corruption of Sindh Government is well-known. I estimate that more than half of its revenue is siphoned off to foreign bank accounts belonging to the rural areas. 

The Gul Plaza fire would never have happened if the officials warming their chairs had visited the place even once to check if fire safety measures were being followed. The plaza was originally built for a thousand shops, but two hundred shops were added without permission. If the Sindh Building Control people had prevented the additional construction, perhaps those trapped in the plaza could have managed to escape.

If more proof of their corruption is required, just consider that initially about thirty people were reported missing. When the government announced that it would pay ten million rupees to the kin of the deceased, the number of missing persons jumped to 85! One can easily guess what happened. Some people in the rural areas (in collusion with their friends in the government) will claim the ten million, declaring that their relatives died in the blaze. It's another matter that they will never be able to prove that their relatives were in the city, but that won't matter. Half of the ten million will be pocketed by their friends and relatives in the government, and they will be richer by five million. Of course, those unfortunate ones whose near and dear ones were among the victims will get the compensation money after many months, if ever. In fact, even they will have to pay half of it to the corrupt officials.

Karachi's mayor and solar power

Published in Dawn on January 16, 2026

WRONG ESTIMATE: This is with reference to the report ‘Mayor inaugurates Rs900m solar-powered street light project on Sharea Faisal’ (Jan 5), which quoted the Karachi mayor (Murtaza Wahab) as saying that the project would “save Rs25m in electricity bills” every year. I do not know whether to laugh or cry. A simple calculation (900 divided by 25) shows that the payback period for this project is 36 years. Ask anyone who knows the subject, and you will be told that the payback period should be of five years. The city mayor either does not know what he is talking about or someone has minted a lot of money.

Shakir Lakhani

Karachi

https://www.dawn.com/news/1967290/wrong-estimate

UAE has stopped issuing visas to nationals of poor countries

When I visited Taiwan in 1991, my hosts were amazed that I had gone to Singapore first. "What's there is Singapore?" one of them asked. "It's all artificial". I agreed, even though I went to Singapore later due to pressure of my family members. The same holds true for Dubai and the rest of UAE. Why do people want to go there? I would like to mention here that I've visited the UAE four times, not because I like it (I don't), but because I have close relatives living there. 

So, I'm not upset over the UAE government's refusal to issue visas to people of poor countries like Pakistan (although, in a sense, Pakistan is a richer country than even UAE, but more of that later). It  seems that Pakistanis under the age of 45 do not stand a chance of getting a UAE visa, unless they have rich relatives there who can sponsor them. 

Despite so many people not getting visas, flights from Karachi to Dubai are full, even though most of the people going there are not the kind I would like to be friendly with. Most of them are laborers working there, but some have invested heavily in real estate in Dubai. Those are the ones who've made their millions in Pakistan, but have no faith in the country's future.

Trump being cordial to Mamdani shocks Americans!

Embed from Getty Images

Lo and behold, we saw another side of Trump when he met Mamdani. He even asked Mamdani to say yes when the New York mayor-elect was asked if he still considered that Trump is a fascist. This is definitely not the Trump we know, as we've seen how rudely he treated Zelensky. Let's hope that Trump changes and becomes a really nice and lovable person. 

But the question remains: will Mamdani be able to persuade billionaires like Trump to pay more taxes on their properties? It will indeed be a miracle if that happens.

I can't help comparing the situation of New York with that of Karachi. If only the taxes paid by Karachi residents were used for the city's development, it would not be the world's least livable. That can only happen only if the city is made a province. Unfortunately, that won't happen for a long time.

Heavy rains cause havoc in Karachi again

Even when I was 7 or 8, Karachi  would be flooded every time it rained heavily (which was after every three or four years). I remember Mr. Jinnah saying "Clouds in Karachi have no water". The climate of Karachi, like its people, is very different from the climate in the rest of the country. This year, for instance, except for Karachi, the country has seen rains and floods since June. So we thought this would be one of those years in which Karachi would be dry (like the past two years). But yesterday the rains were the heaviest in years (up to 180 mm in some parts of the city).

In 1977, perhaps the heaviest rains (10 inches) had struck the city. I was then doing construction jobs in the SITE area, one of the many industrial districts in the city. It took me more than four hours to reach my house in Clifton (normally it was a journey of half an hour). Yesterday, I was stuck on the flooded roads for two hours instead of the 15 minutes it usually takes. Many people I know were also stranded for hours, one of them even went back to his office after three hours in the slow-moving traffic. He spent the night in his office and went home at seven in the morning today.

Many people ask why Karachi doesn't have a working drainage system, despite them paying heavy taxes. One reason is that the present drains can sustain rains of two inches maximum. Another reason of course is the pervasive corruption that is threatening to destroy the country. 

Building collapse

Published in DAWN on July 24, 2025

BUILDING COLLAPSE: This is with reference to the editorial ‘Building collapse’ (July 5). I do not understand why some people often blame the Sindh government for such tragedies. It has done a ‘good job’ by taking necessary steps to prevent such incidents in future.

For instance, it renamed the Karachi Building Control Authority (KBCA) as the Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA). What else a government can do? Anyone can now violate building codes, and construct 15 floors above the permitted 10. This will allow at least some people to earn billions of rupees and send the money into foreign bank accounts. We should all stop blaming the seriously efficient Sindh government.

 

Shakir Lakhani

Karachi

 

https://www.dawn.com/news/1926239/building-collapse

Buildings falling in Karachi: why should we be surprised?

 It was in 1969 or early 1970 that a contractor took me to see what is called a "peer" (pronounced like "peel"). I was not well and he told me that just looking at the "peer" would turn me into a new man. The man lived in a dilapidated building somewhere in Saddar, and at first I hesitated, but the contractor told me not to worry, the building would remain standing as long as the holy man lived there, which was in a poorly constructed shed on the roof. Needless to say, looking at the saint did not have any effect on me, but I'm mentioning this episode to point out that even in those days, violations of the building code were breezily taking place, even though not as frequently as today.

The day before yesterday a building fell in the old city area of Lyari, killing many people (27 bodies have so far been taken out of the rubble, twenty of them belonging to a Hindu family). The authorities had given permission for only two floors, but the builder had constructed another floor, so when it was decided to demolish the third floor, the builder went ahead and made two other floors and a penthouse, further endangering the building. 

Another building (one with eight floors) nearby has developed cracks and is in danger of collapsing, but its residents have refused to leave, even though electricity, gas and water have been disconnected. It is reported that there are about a thousand such structures in the city that need to be demolished. More tragedies are sure to follow. 

Shock-proof

 Published in DAWN on March 22, 2006

RESIDENTS of multi-storeyed buildings in Karachi have been asked to prove that their buildings are earthquake-proof. The only way to find out if a building will be able to withstand an earthquake is to supervise its construction from start to finish and this was supposed to be done by the Karachi Building Control Authority. There is of course another method but I doubt if it will appeal to anyone: explode a high-intensity bomb within a radius of ten fleet and see if the building remains standing. 

Shakir Lakhani

Karachi

PIA's missing wheel

NOT UNUSUAL

Published in DAWN on March 23, 2025

Embed from Getty Images

This is with reference to the report “PIA aircraft’s missing wheel found at Karachi airport” (March 15). It is believed that PK-306 lost one of its wheels after it struck an object on the runway at Karachi. The incident was handled casually by the airline, probably because it takes such things as normal. I hope we do not get to see news items like ‘PIA plane lands with only one engine running’, or ‘PIA crew makes successful landing despite the pilot being fast asleep’.

Shakir Lakhani

Karachi

https://www.dawn.com/news/1899796/going-home-for-eid

There will be no Hindus left in Pakistan

Until recently, Hindus led comfortable lives in Karachi and the rest of Sindh, it was only the Christians and Ahmedis who left the country due to persecution. But now, more and more Hindus are leaving their ancestral lands and migrating to India. Some have even gone to Australia. 

The problem is that most Pakistanis have been brainwashed into believing that the country was made only for Muslims and non-Muslims have no right to live here. If you look at the Pakistan Resolution of 1940, you find that India would be divided into many independent, sovereign states where the minorities of India could live safely. Minorities included Sikhs and Christians, but this is breezily overlooked by our religious bigots.

In Chitral, only a thousand Kafiristanis remain, yet even those are being targeted by our religious parties to convert. In Gilgit Baltistan, there is continuous tension between the Sunnis and Shias, while in Baluchistan, many Hazaras have been forced to migrate. All this is due to the belief that converting a non-Muslim to Islam will get one immediately into paradise.

Unfortunately there is nothing that can be done, apart from closing down our madressahs where many children are being fed this kind of poison.

Karachi contractors

Soluble roads

Published in The News on September 21, 2024

The Sindh government has reportedly decided to spend Rs1.5 billion to repair roads, bridges and underpasses damaged by heavy rainfall. I strongly advise that this money instead be distributed among the poor. The reason is that contractors in Karachi firmly believe that it's a heinous crime to do any work that can last more than a year. This is one reason why Karachi roads turn into potholes after less than half an inch of rain, while roads in Lahore can seemingly withstand 30 inches of rain.

Shakir Lakhani

Karachi

https://e.thenews.com.pk/detail?id=343482

Millionaire beggars

I saw a video clip today which showed an attractive Pakistani woman who became wealthy by begging. She's earned enough to buy two apartments and a restaurant in Malaysia. She's given up begging now, but she did say that most beggars don't need to beg, they have enough to live on for the rest of their lives.

This reminded me of a millionaire beggar about whom I wrote in DAWN in 1998. He appeared to be blind, deaf and lame, and when I discovered that he was a Memon like me, I collected some cash and went to his house, where I found that he was actually a fake beggar, and a millionaire to boot. In another article for Tribune, I had estimated that there must be more than two million beggars in Karachi, particularly in the month of fasting. 

In Karachi itself, practically every locality has a social organization providing free food to the poor. Yet whenever I've told beggars to go there, they turn away. Apparently they don't want the food, they want the money. One day in Clifton, I was about to give money

to a child beggar when he told me to buy him a burger instead. It turned out that there was a goon watching him and if I gave the kid any money, he would come over and take it from him. Apparently the goon had many such children begging and making him rich.

 

How did this school principal rape more than 25 girls so easily?

Irfan Memon, a school principal in Malir (a suburb of Karachi), is accused of raping more than twenty five women whom he had promised to employ as teachers in his school. Years ago, I had written about Ali Mohammed Hajiano ("Rapist in a white Corolla"), who had kidnapped and raped thirty seven women. I don't know what happened to him. If he was sentenced to a jail term, he's probably free by now (if he ever went to jail, which is doubtful, as he was the son of a civil servant).

I can't understand how Irfan Memon raped these girls so easily. They could have resisted with all their might, they could have yelled at the top of their voices, yet they silently allowed him to undress them and do the unthinkable. Were they very poor and needed employment desperately? Didn't they know that being in a room alone with a man could result in getting them pregnant?

There are reports that he raped forty five women, but only five women have appeared and accused him of raping them. I saw a video clip in which a misogynist claimed that these women agreed to have sex with him when he promised to give them jobs. He also suggested that they were the type who would sleep with anyone for money. I doubt it. The poor girls could have been simpletons who didn't know anything about sex. Let's wait and see how the case develops.

Karachi an unliveable city?

A few months after Ayub Khan seized power in 1958, Karachi was declared the cleanest city in the world. But only a year or so after Bhutto came into power, it was described as the "dirtiest" city in the world. This despite the fact that in those days there were many towns in the country that were much dirtier. 

Since then, Karachi has received a bad press almost every year. Recently the Guardian newspaper published a list of unlivable cities. Only three were worse than Karachi, the worst being Damascus. At the bottom (better than Damascus but worse than Karachi) were Lagos and Tripoli.

I have lived in Karachi for 76 years now. I don't think I can live anywhere else for more than a couple of months than Karachi. I know that parts of Karachi are not safe. I live in a gated community where we have twenty four hour water and electricity. There are parts of Karachi where I have not been for many years now. When I'm outside my gated apartment complex, I'm at risk of being mugged, but this is true of most other large cities as well. 

A relative of mine was in the US some years back on a short visit. He had been invited to dinner and almost all the guests (who had migrated from Karachi) were speaking ill of their home city, particularly about its street crimes. Suddenly they were interrupted by another guest who had just been mugged outside the house. His car had also been snatched. My relative couldn't help telling those present that their city was not much different from Karachi.

Chinese dentists in Karachi targeted by killers

Anyone could have foreseen that this would happen. A Chinese dentist and his wife were seriously injured and their assistant (also Chinese) was killed in Karachi yesterday. Obviously they were targeted by Baloch separatists who have reportedly shot down two helicopters recently. The injured dentist is the brother of another Chinese dentist who used to be my neighbor until 2009 when I lived in Clifton. The brother Anthony Hu has his own clinic near my office in Clifton. For many years I and my wife used to be his patients. He has Pakistani nationality and speaks good Urdu.

Karachi has had Chinese dentists for more than a hundred years now. In fact, I don't think there were dentists of any other ethnicity or nationality in the 1950s. There was an expensive Chinese dentist with an office in the Excelsior Hotel when I was in my teens (in the 1960s). His son Mervyn Hussain is also a dentist. He's a very good writer but for some reason he hasn't written much in recent months. I'm not sure but I believe Adrian Hussain is his brother. He too is a good writer and now writes a weekly column in DAWN.

I can't understand why the police were not able to anticipate the attack on the Chinese couple. Their clinic is in perhaps the most crowded area of Karachi (Saddar) where it's easy for anyone to kill and disappear in the adjoining streets. They should have advised the dentist to employ security guards. But I don't think our agencies are competent and I doubt if they'll be able to find the killer.

Karachi's recent rains may not be due to global warming

Weather is uniform in Pakistan (except Karachi, which has unpredictable weather). This is why, when usually the rest of the country is suffering bitter cold or intolerable heat, Karachi isn't. It's another matter that some of those who visit Karachi say that its weather is intolerable, but I remember the writer Ayaz Amir calling it glorious (this was in November).

Just as rain in other parts of the country is predictable, in Karachi it isn't. I remember some years when there were practically no rains (as in 2021), while there have been years (like this one) when the rains have caused urban flooding and many deaths.

Sometime in the 1950s, my school compound was invaded by some families displaced by rains. They must have been there for many weeks, living in make-shift tents, preventing us from playing cricket and other games.

In 1967, there were heavy rains again, but the one I remember vividly was on 30th June 1977. About 9 inches of rain fell that night, which was a record until then. 

This year, perhaps Karachi has received more rains than any previous year. We'll know when August is over. But since people's memories are short, every time it rains heavily in Karachi, it seems like a record. It is blamed on global warming, but I doubt it. Not many people know that a tsunami struck Karachi in 1946 (it was then a very small town). I doubt if global warming was responsible for that.

A new conspiracy theory about Nesla Towers

People are puzzled about the Chief Justice's urgency to demolish Nesla Towers immediately. There are some who say the judge wants to do it because he has a grudge against the builder, there are others who think it's because he wants to be known as a fearless man who became the only judge to stand up to the powerful builder's mafia. Maybe he wants to be like the Indian judges who have got many buildings (mostly owned by Muslims) demolished in Chennai and Mumbai.

There is, however, a new conspiracy theory spread by Imran Khan's followers and loyalists. It goes like this: most of the public didn't know that the apex court "regularized" two properties owned by Imran Khan, one being in Bani Gala (his huge mansion built on twenty five thousand square yards of agricultural land), the other being an apartment in a high rise (where he got something worth a hundred million for only ten million). Lawyers for Nesla Towers asked the Chief Justice why there are double standards, one for the prime minister and the other for the common residents of Nesla Towers, and why those properties could be regularized on payment while the poor residents of Nesla Towers are being deprived of their dwellings without adequate compensation. The judge said the two cases are "distinguishable", whatever that means. But the publicity made most of the nation aware of how the so-called Mr. Clean (Imran Khan) got away with gross violations of the law. 

So, Imran Khan's loyalists are convinced that it's a plot by the establishment to make Imran unpopular and lose the next elections (as if corruption and inflation don't even matter). 

PPP's surprising victory in Karachi's Baldia (NA-249)

A major upset occurred yesterday when the PPP candidate Qadir Mandokhel narrowly defeated PMLN's Miftah Ismail (whom I personally like and favored, because he is from my community). However, the winning candidate is also likable, being a professor and a social worker in the locality. This, by the way, is the same constituency where a fraudster (Faisal Vawda) won by a narrow margin against Shahbaz Sharif in the massively rigged 2018 elections. At sthat time, the Election Commission flouted all the rules and refused a recount, and if it does so this time as well, people will very likely believe that the establishment has rigged this time as well. And there is plenty of evidence that in fifteen polling booths, there has been rigging. 

Which makes me think, it isn't so difficult to rig elections. In 2018, it was the soldiers and police which "persuaded" people to cast their votes for Imran Khan. Yesterday it was the Sindhi cops and presiding officers who indulged in rigging. 

But whether rigging happened or not, one thing is clear: the PTI can't survive long. In the past ten bye-elections, it has been able to win only one, and yesterday it trailed behind the PPP, the PMLN and even the banned TLP. It also proves that it won the 2018 elections with the massive support o f the military and the establishment, so it really is a "selected" government.

I do think it's good that the constituency has finally got someone in the PPP  to represent them in the national assembly. Let's hope the ruling PPP in Sindh finally spends some of Karachi's huge taxes to improve conditions in Baldia, assuming of course that Imran Khan releases Sindh's share of taxes to the province (which doesn't seem likely).