TUESDAY, Aug 19, 2025, should stand as yet another dark day in the history of Karachi as heavy monsoon showers lasting a little over a couple of hours left the city completely paralysed. Thousands were stranded as wastrels in charge watched powerlessly … or, worse, smugly. Let us not mince words: this was not an act of nature, but a showcase of institutional rot — a height of inefficiency, a shameless betrayal of public trust, and criminal complicity in human suffering.
From Surjani Town to Clifton, and from Gulshan-i-Hadeed to Merewether Clock Tower, roads became rivers of rainwater mixed with sewage, garbage and all sorts of filth.
Broken vehicles and buses floated like lifeless wrecks. Motorists found themselves trapped for hours in gridlock with a sense of utter abandonment as there were no official machinery on the roads; not even the traffic police.
The worst part of the whole chaos was that it was not even unexpected. It was a predictable result of decades of continued hollow claims and a culture of impunity. With leaders shamelessly posing for cameras, all this was bound to happen.
Monsoons are natural, but disaster is not. However, the city administration and the provincial government clearly seem to have missed the line between the two, treating them as Siamese twins.
Majid Burfat
Karachi
Published in Dawn, August 24th, 2025