After spending seven good days in Lahore I am convinced that cultural hub of the country is one of the most beautiful cities of Pakistan, chief minister Punjab despite having majority of flaws in his governance especially in health, education and law and order sectors has successfully maintained the beautification of the city. Unlike any other provincial Government, the Government of Punjab strictly follows no graffiti policy and this is the reason why Lahore’s walls are as clean as any civilized city of the world. Lahore’s roads despite not-so-broad have managed to accommodate smooth traffic flow with strict traffic laws, thanks to Chaudhries for setting up a bench mark in traffic management sector.
Compared to Karachi when we get out of Airport premises the huge bill board of Shahi Syed followed by Sunni Tehreek, Pirpagara and Sindhi nationalist leaders giving visitors a feel of terrorized city, Lahore’s way from Airport is covered with lush green and yellow mustard fields. What a beautiful sight it is. Although this is just one of the few good aspects of Lahore, majority of homes in Lahore have smaller walls which show people are not much concerned about the overall security situation. Not to forget that Karachites generally set up broken glass pieces or pointed iron needles on the walls to protect homes from thieves.
People of Lahore are fond of eating and so do Karachites but latter seems more concerned about eating good food rather than consuming everything for the sake of eating what I found in Lahoris.
I found Lahore too provincial; too many Punjabis however Karachi gives a feel of true cosmopolitan city. Its people speak in English, write in Urdu, think in Baluchi and dream in Sindhi. Perhaps language is the reason why people in Lahore live with unity. Karachi’s complex demographics with no check and balance allows everyone to do whatever in the garb of “Karachi for everyone”.
People of Lahore love Mustafa Kamal but hate MQM although Karachi’s mainstream political party has managed to open offices in various cities of Punjab. Generally the educated and urban Punjabis keep soft corner for MQM but not majority. They love MQM’s well versed work force, organization and management.
Lahoris would also show you sky scrappers and whatever shopping malls they have and ask whether such things exist in Karachi.
But the best thing I found about Lahoris is their civic sense, you won’t see them spitting Paan or Gutka on the roads or elsewhere. Another interesting thing I observed is there is hardly any cab services running in Lahore, earlier I thought that the fortunate city with the help of Chief Minister Punjab would be rich with Yellow cabs but to my surprise either they are parked at homes or repainted for private usage.
Chief Minister Punjab however is passionate to resolve the transportation issues for Lahories and initiating various CNG bus programs ignoring the fact that city bears at least three days off for CNG.
In short Karachi is a huge city trying to accommodate multiple cultures; it’s rich, fast, pulsating and dynamic. But the recent developments in Lahore including the new better and culturally rich food street near Badshahi mosque makes it a city to talk about.