THROUGHOUT my profession, I have closely engaged with government ministries, agencies and departments, both at the local and federal levels. In my younger days, the calling of the public services was strong, and I passed through the process of the CSS examinations and interviews. My aim was to be an officer of the DMG (district management group), and I disdained the possibility of joining any other group. Given my domicile (urban Sindh), competition was strong for the single seat allotted to Karachi and that was chosen by the person who topped the exams. I decided then that I would still try to work for the people of my country, but go the way of civil society.
I learned my trade (development — ie public service carried out by private citizens) in the katchi abadis of Karachi — Machhar Colony, Baloch Colony, Orangi Town, and other smaller areas. My work brought me close to people there, and it also made me realise that government involvement was essential. In the 1990s, Machhar Colony, home to 400,000 people from all over the country, came under the administrative division of the Port Authority. The colony, which comprised of internal migrants who had illegally settled on Railways land in the 1950s/60s, was divided by ethnic and socioeconomic grouping — so the Bengalis who were the poorest lived closest to the sea with most of their women and children engaged in the shrimp cleaning trade. The Pathans and Punjabis were somewhat........