‘Perween Rahman’s idea of development included both poor and rich’

Karachi
A nauseating mega-mass of untreated sewage is daily finding its way into the sea, jeopardising marine life a lot which otherwise is the best source of protein, constricting the scope of the sea as a point of recreation, and destroying marine sources.
This was stated in a video showing the slain director of the Orangi Pilot Project (OPP), Perween Rahman, at the Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology (SZABIST), on Monday afternoon.
The departed was paid glowing tributes for her public-service orientation and her selfless service to public welfare.
Rahman was shot dead on March 13, 2013, reportedly by one of the many mafias that were operating in the city at that time. The programme started off with a narration of portions from a novel authored by Asad Muhammad, which narrates all the unpleasant characteristics of the city told through various shady characters, like charlatans, quacks and swindlers.
These were narrated by the Kissa Farosh group in a very theatrical way, comprising Parveen Zehra, Adnan Jaffer and Tariq Raja. The narration was a reflection of all the pernicious influences that affect civic life in the megalopolis and turn the citizenry into neurotics or criminals. It was a very profound and effective presentation.
In the video, Rahman is seen saying that development certainly didn’t imply five-star hotels. She says Dubai should be no model for Pakistan, nor should be Singapore. “Development is the phenomenon where every citizen has an environment that suits his interests, rich or poor alike.” She also narrates the metamorphosis of the OPP and says the project had been replicated in a whole lot of Asian and African countries.
“Our strategy was to raise funds and resources by a token contribution from the families and residents concerned rather than from the World Bank or the IMF.”
Three million people, she says, benefited from the project, those who were provided small loans for housing and for whom the development of the OPP was undertaken. She focuses special criticism on the Karachi Port Trust, saying that the development being effected by them was meant to cater exclusively to the elite, thus nurturing the monster of elitism and widening the rich-poor gap.
The third -- and final -- part of the programme was a panel discussion moderated by Rahman’s sister Aquila Ismail, with writer Ajmal Kamal, journalist Anwar Sen Roy, novelist Asad Muhammad Khan and Afzaal Ahmed Khan as discussants.
Roy said that while everybody had a right to work his own way, his work would always come to the fore for people to judge.
Afzaal Ahmed Khan, originally from the erstwhile East Pakistan but who has also lived for a long time in Beirut, Lebanon, said Karachi’s main problem was the acute shortage of gardens.
Gardens, he said, were essential for the recreation of the citizenry and had a very soothing effect on a person’s nerves and temperament. Unfortunately, he said, the few gardens remaining in Karachi were also disappearing, being devoured by the builders’ mafia to construct apartment blocks and shopping plazas.
Aquila Ismail disclosed that they had approached the higher judiciary to solve the riddle of her sister’s murder and quickly apprehend the criminals. She said the very next day after the murder, police sources told them that Rahman’s killer had been shot in an encounter with the police.
She was of the view that this killing of an innocent person was just a cover-up by the police to close the case. She said they were sure that this was all very far from the truth and there was something really sinister, while police perhaps were trying to protect the criminals.