The city once known as “City of Lights”, has literally turned into a city of sheer darkness. This is not just another usual rant, that you get to read, here and there, but heartfelt and real.

The Karachi I grew up in was devoid of the linguistic and ethnic demarcation. It was 70’s, we were all multi ethnic in the neighborhood. Sindhis, Punjabis, the Pathans and Muhajirs (back then refered as Urdu speaking), use to band together as one. Of course you had to know the Karachite slang to fit in. Without that you were like a fish out of water. As we used to say, that you needed “super sharp antennas” to keep up with the slick Karachites. Any relative from Lahore, Rawalpindi and Islamabad used to come to Karachi and it was hard for them to keep up with its hustle and bustle. But they were in total awe of the glitz and charm of the beach and neons.

Heck at school, it was like the entire United Nations of religions. Christians, Parsis, Hindus, Bahais we were all Pakistanis. There was something magical about those days. Some spirit of nationalism, which was like a gel, bringing us altogether. Ah yes it was the ZAB era and we were all trying to elevate the remaining Pakistan.

Back in those days, I remember right after the infamous 1971 war, Shahnaz Begum sang Aali Sahib’s song like,

“Mauj barhey ya aandhi aayey, diya jalayey rakhna hai

Ghar ki khatir sau dukh jhailey, ghar to aakhir apna hai

Well then came the 1974 Islamic Summit and our city was glowing, even though the actual summit was being held in Lahore. Spectacular illumination, were seen around Karachi like Inter Con, Baradari Gardens, Beach Luxury, PIDC House, Saddar and Clifton were literally glowing.

The decade of 80’s was not so blissful for the city. From the 1977 post election unrest to Bushra Zaidi incident, I believe it was 1985 or 1986 and the city literally transformed. We used to have occasional Shia Sunni bout in the 70’s, which was reprehensible and shameful. The Karachi University had a firing incident in late 70’s which or very early 80’s which was a major turning point.

From mid 80’s on it seems like the city went to dogs. The unity that we had as typical Karachite has been lost. Today’s Karachi has been divided and subdivided into linguistic turfs. Extortionist literally run the city and the first question that is on everyone’ s mind is, “Will I make it back to my home safely or not?”

BTW, with shrinking world and people reaching far away lands, the thrill of Port City has taken major toll as well. The relatives from other cities want to stay away from Karachi and they tend to say, “No way, do you think I am crazy to take this kind of risk to come to Karachi?”

Sad but true…..

Pakistan- Not as seen on TV

The Pakistan we see on TV hardly does justice to the real Pakistan and the people who have ensured her survival against all odds. Pakistan has produced winners and champions. Pakistan is home to some of the most talented, hardworking and selfless people yet they unfortunately don’t receive as much publicity as the Taliban (most of whom aren’t Pakistanis anyway). This post is dedicated to some of the names that made Pakistan proud and some achievements that left their mark.

But before I begin, thank you dear internet for knowing everything there is to know about everything that ever happened. You are a noble invention =D

Fastest bowler In Cricket World:

A typical fast delivery has a speed in the range of 136 to 150 km/h (85 to 95 mph). The fastest delivery that has ever been unofficially recorded clocked in at 101.9 mph by Muhammad Sami of Pakistan against India. The fastest delivery officially recorded was clocked at 161.3 km/h (100.2 mph) and was bowled by Shoaib Akhtar, also of Pakistan during a match against England in the 2003 Cricket World Cup.

Inventors of the reverse swing

Sanjay Manjrekar (former Indian cricketer) called it “Pakistan’s gift to modern day cricket“.

Former Pakistan international cricketer Sarfraz Nawaz was the founder of reverse swing during the late 1970s, and he passed his knowledge on to former team-mate and cricket legend Imran Khan. It was Imran who schooled bowlers Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis, who brought the art to the cricket world’s attention during the late 1980s and 1990s. The dynamic duo managed to make the old ball swing a considerable distance at pace in both directions, a skill few bowlers can master.

Hockey Glory

Pakistan has thrice won the gold in 1960, 1968 and 1984 Olympics. Pakistan hockey team also won the Hockey world cup four times in1971, 1978, 1982 and 1994. And the last major event: Champions trophy was won in 1978, 1980 and 1994. Latif ur Rehman, Habib ur Rehman, Abdul Rasheed Jr and Dr. Atif Bashir are among Hockey legends from Pakistan.

Sohail Abbas made his debut in 1998 on the national team and has since become arguably hockey’s most prolific goalscorer of all time. He was leading scorer in the 8th Pakistan-India Series, the 9th Azlan Shah Cup (12 goals) and the 5th Asia Cup (16 goals). Of 16 Asia Cup’s goals, seven were against Sri Lanka which allowed him a place in a select band of nine players who registered double hat-tricks in international circuits for Pakistan. His 60 goals in 1999 beat the world record of Litjens (58 goals) in one calendar year.

Squash Glory

Pakistani control over the British Open and the World Open was created in 1976. The names of such great maestros such as Azam Khan, Roshan Khan, Mo Khan, Qamar Zaman, Jahangir Khan, and Jansher Khan have dominated the sport. Moreover, Jahangir Khan (born December 10, 1963, Karachi, Pakistan) is considered by many to be the greatest player ever to grace a squash court. During his career he won the World Open six times and the British Open a record ten times. Between 1981 and 1986, he was unbeaten in competitive play for five years. During that time he won 555 matches consecutively. This was not only the longest winning streak in squash history, but also one of the longest unbeaten runs by any athlete in top-level professional sports. He retired as a player in 1993, and has served as President of the World Squash Federation since 2002.

Initiated the trend of Hockey World Cup and Champions Trophy

On the personal initiative of Air Marshal M. Nur Khan, the FIH introduced the World Cup Tournament and the Champions Trophy Tournament, which are now rated amongst the major international tournaments, alongside the Olympics. At this time, Pakistan held all the major titles in men’s international hockey.

Nobel Prize winner

Abdus Salam was born in Jhang, a small town in what is now Pakistan, in 1926. He was a theoretical physicist, astrophysicist and Nobel laureate in Physics for his work in Electro-Weak Theory. Salam, Sheldon Glashow and Steven Weinberg shared the prize for this discovery. Salam holds the distinction of being the first Pakistani and the first Muslim Nobel Laureate to receive the prize in the Sciences. Even today, Salam is considered one of the most influential scientist and physicists in his field.

Highest international paved road in the world (9th wonder of the world): Karakoram Highway

The Karakoram Highway stretches some 700 kilometres from Islamabad, through the Karakoram Mountains and into China. It is an incredible feat of engineering cutting its way through deep valleys and desert plains into the mountains of northern Pakistan, providing communication between the districts of Chitral, Gilget and Balistan, with the major cities of Islamabad, Rawalpindi and Lahore. It connects China and Pakistan across the Karakoram mountain range, through the Khunjerab Pass, at an altitude of 4,693m/15,397 ft. It connects China’s Xinjiang region with Pakistan’s Gilgit-Baltistan and also serves as a popular tourist attraction. Due to its high elevation and the difficult conditions in which it was constructed, it is also referred to as the “Ninth Wonder of the World.”

Pakistan- Not as seen on TV

World’s 4th largest Dam: Tarbela

The Tarbela Dam is the largest earth-filled dam in the world 469 feet high and 2,264 feet thick at the base. The project is located at a narrow spot in the Indus River valley, at tarbela in Haripur, shortly located at the point from where the District Swabi starts. The main dam wall, built of earth and rock fill, stretches 2,743 metres (8,999 ft) from the island to river right, standing 148 metres (486 ft) high. A pair of concrete auxiliary dams spans the river from the island to river left. The main spillway has a discharge capacity of 18,406 cubic metres per second (650,000 cu ft/s) and the auxiliary spillway, 24,070 cubic metres per second (850,000 cu ft/s).

5th largest army:

The Pakistan Army is a volunteer professional fighting force. It has an active force of 550,000 personnel. Since independence, the Army has been involved in four wars with neighboring India and several border skirmishes with Afghanistan. It maintained division and brigade strength presences in some of the Arab countries during the past Arab-Israeli Wars, and aided the Coalition in the first Gulf War. Other major operations undertaken by the Army include Operation Black Thunderstorm and Operation Rah-e-Nijat. Apart from conflicts, the Army has been an active participant in UN missions and played a major role in rescuing trapped American soldiers from Mogadishu, Somalia in 1993 in Operation Gothic.

First woman elected to lead an Islamic State:

Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Shaheed became the first Muslim woman to be elected as Prime Minister, and is Pakistan’s only female Prime Minister to date. She got her education from Convent of Jesus and Mary, Murree (O Level exams,) Karachi Grammar School (A Level exams) and eventually Harvard, Toronto and finally Oxford. In fact, in December 1976 she was elected president of the Oxford Union becoming the first Asian woman to head the prestigious debating society thereby setting a very inspiring example for others to follow. When she gave birth to Bilawal in 1988, she became the first modern head of state to give birth while in office.

World Record for shooting down most planes in a single sortie: Squadron Leader. MM. Alam

One of the fastest aces of all time was a participant in a short-lived border war between India and Pakistan in 1965. Few fighter pilots of any nation could claim nine victories in three combats. Fewer still could claim seven in two days. And no one besides Mohammad Alam of the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) can lay claim to shooting down five enemy planes in less than one minute.

“I remember thinking what very pretty aircraft were the brand-new Hunters were as I ordered my section to punch tanks,” said MM. Alam. “The Hunters also jettisoned their drop tanks, and we turned into each other for combat. The fight didn’t last long. I got my sights on the No. 4 Hunter, and after a brief burst, he flicked and went into the ground in a great ball of flame.”

“We were all turning very tightly – in access of 5g or just about on the limits of the Sabre’s very accurate A-4 radar ranging gunsight,” Alam reported ” And I think before we had completed more than about 270 degrees of the turn, at about 12 degrees per second, all four Hunters had been shot down. In each case, I got the piper of my sight around the canopy of the Hunter for virtually a full deflection shot. Almost all of our shooting throughout the war was at very high angles off – seldom less than 30 degrees. Unlike some of the Korean combat films I had seen, nobody in our war was shot down flying straight or level.”

Seldom do we remember these people. The heroes who have made us proud. The heroes who make Pakistan worth it!

Alas! Space is limited.. I know that there are numerous unsung heroes who have never asked to be recognized though they have done for this country and her people, the things that we can never be thankful enough for.