Day 2 of the 7th Annual International Karachi Conference held at the IBA, Karachi
The second day of the 7th
Annual International Karachi Conference
kicked off with the President of the Karachi Conference Foundation (KCF),
Dr. Asma Ibrahim, reiterating KCF’s commitment to promote awareness on
Karachi’s development and heritage at the JS Auditorium, Institute of Business Administration
(IBA), Karachi, city campus. It was followed by an engaging and poignant
keynote by Karachi literary icon Haseena Moin who related the story of her
early memories of coming to Karachi after independence, saying that and this
city no longer seem related at all.
The first conference session titled The Future of Karachi’s Heritage featured
presentations by Director KMC Land Archives Project Fareed Ahmed,
conservationist Dr. Kaleemullah Lashari and Dr. Abdul Rehman who presented the
Archives of Karachi present in the Library of Congress in Washington DC which
is one of the largest library in the world. Panelists Danish Zuby from SHEHRI
NGO, Professor Dr. Anila Naeem from NED University and session chair Arif Hasan
engaged the speakers on their papers about Karachi’s archives, heritage and
history. It was a lively session with enthusiastic audience participation
during the Q&A.
The highlight of the session was the
closing address by urban planner and Karachi expert Arif Hasan who said, “heritage
is more than buildings”. He said that when the state did not provide facilities
like public transport, low income housing, water supply, etc., Karachiites
provided it for themselves. The solutions which Karachiites have per force
provided for themselves, like kachi
abadis and encroachments, cannot simply be swept away – planners need to
regard the organic and haphazard existence of Karachi with “love and
affection”, to modify the existing city, not to demolish it to make way for
half-baked new ideas or luxury settlements for the wealthy. He further stated
that city planning has to be about ordinary people. “I do not believe in
beautification projects which are of no use to the public,” he added.
The other sessions on the second day of the conference
include; The Future of Karachi’s
Development, The Politics of
Displacement & Resettlement, Karachi’s
Book Cultures. The conference will conclude with a screening of Karachi-based
critically acclaimed film Laal Kabootar
at 5:00 pm on Sunday, November 3, 2019.
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