Unbearable filth

Karachi is today notorious for its garbage all over the world; but it is not only Karachi that suffers from this. All of Pakistan is fast turning into a gigantic garbage dump. The problem in essence is that we don’t know the first principle of cleanliness – keep the area where you live spotlessly clean. If we continue to pile up our cities and villages with stinking garbage, swarms of flies and scary insects crawling around, rats as big as cats running around the dumps, soon there will be epidemics like hepatitis.

Don’t we remember that the plague had killed half the population of Europe in the 14th century? If you slaughter a chicken in a street in Munich, you will be hauled-up by the police in minutes and punished. On the contrary, we can slaughter bulls and camels without fear in our narrow streets and small houses; and throw their entrails all over with blood flowing freely wall-to-wall in the streets. The unbearable stink continues to remind us for weeks that we have celebrated Eid.

Usman Shah

Islamabad