All About Karachi

Karachi is the capital city of Sindh province of Pakistan. According to the 2017 census, Karachi’s total population is 16,051,521 or 16 million. However, the political parties of Sindh do not agree with this figure and describe the total population to approximately 30 million.

Karachi is administratively divided into seven districts including South, West, East, Central, Malir, Korangi, and Keamari districts. Syed Murad Ali Shah is the current Chief Minister of Sindh affiliated with the Pakistan Peoples Party. Imran Ismail is the current Governor of Sindh affiliated with Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. Although Pakistan Peoples Party is the majority party in Sindh, it does not have significant representation and seats from the urban areas including Karachi and Hyderabad. However, the party won majority seats from the Interior Sindh due to which it enjoys an exclusive majority in Sindh province.

Pakistan Peoples Party has retained most of the powers of running the province to itself including Solid Waste Management and Water Management. The capital city Karachi has the largest share in the tax revenues and is considered as the industrial hub of the country. A critical factor in the case of Karachi is that of land ownership. Different authorities have ownership of certain parts of Karachi. They include Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC), Karachi Development Authority (KDA), Cantonment Board, Malir Development Authority (MDA), and Lyari Development Authority (LDA).

The last mayor of Karachi was Waseem Akhtar affiliated with Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) Pakistan. His tenure ended on August 31, 2020. According to the law, the Sindh government has three months to hold the elections from the day the mayor steps down. However, the chief minister presented the argument that the local bodies’ elections cannot be held unless new constituencies are formed based on the 2017 census. Currently, Iftikhar Ali Shallwani has been appointed as Karachi’s administrator by the Sindh Government.

Food

Karachi is best known for its delicious, tasty, and spicy foods. Two well-known specialties of the city are Nihari and Biryani. Famous shops offering Nihari are Javed Nihari, Haji Idrees Nihari, Zahid Nihari, Sabri Nihari, Maliks Nihari, Waheed Nihari, and Nihari Inn. Famous shops offering Biryani are Student Biryani and Biryani Of The Seas (BOTS). Shams Chaat House is famous for its mix chaat, bhel puri, and paani puri.

Local Government

Karachi has a complex system of local government. There is limited power available to the Mayor. Karachi has seven districts, and each district is managed by a DMC (District Municipal Corporation). These DMCs run independently, and they do not report to the city mayor. Currently, Karachi has six DMCs because District Keamari was announced only recently in September 2020. After the end of the tenure of the local government, deputy commissioners have been appointed as administrators in the respective districts.

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