South Asia: Pakistan and the Himalayan States - Dragons and Tigers: A Geography of South, East and Southeast Asia - page 201

major problem for the poor, who usually have their
water delivered from a cart or truck carrying water-filled oil
barrels. They pay 600 percent more than richer people.
Frustrations arising from these problems are exacerbated
by rivalry between the richer, Urdu-speaking Muhajirs
and relatively poorer Sindhis, Pathans, and other ethnic
groups.
Disillusionment breeds discontent and draws people
to activism. All too often, this means turning to funda-
mentalist Islam and terrorist organizations to solve prob-
lems. Karachi, like so many other places in Pakistan, has
become a city of violence.

rate is 6.6 children per woman (average TFR 4.0 in 2009;
the average age at marriage is 17). With only 11 percent
of women using any form of contraception, most are
exposed to childbearing for 33 years! Needless to say , infant
and maternal mortality rates are high. The already-low
sex ratio of 106 males per 100 females is decreasing,
indicating better care and increased life expectancy for
males versus female infanticide, neglect, and high infant
mortality rates for girls.
Part of the problem is the repression of women and
lack of education. Enforced seclusion, (except for farm
work) and traditional attitudes prevent most females
from attending school or even learning to read. Pakistan' s
literacy rate is 69 percent for men but only 40 percent for
women. According to The Economist , in 2009, Pakistan
ranked as the 14th least literate country in the world.
Although schools have been built for girls in several
areas, less than 10 percent of girls ever attend. More girls
go to school and attend university in urban centers, but
life roles of “suitable positions,'' arranged marriage, and
general subservience to men are still expected for most.
The status of men among men is vital in South Asian,
Muslim society and must be maintained, in part, through
modest and deferential behavior of women, especially
those in a man' s immediate family .
Muhammed Ali Jinnah had been a strong supporter
of rights for women. Gains were made such as women
getting the right to hold property . The election of
Benazir Bhutto in 1988 suggested that progressive
strides would be made. But modernization has impacted
primarily elite women. Very few women work in
formal or informal sectors full-time. There are scores of
women' s groups such as the Women' s Action Forum
(started in Karachi in 1981), but opposition to women' s
rights has only grown stronger. With Islamization
being carried forward in a relatively conservative
fashion, women' s movements (largely urban and elite)
face tough obstacles. Increasing violence against
women in recent years has put women' s groups into a
position of defending the few rights they have rather
than acquiring new ones.
Pakistan' s rich-poor gap has not narrowed signifi-
cantly . In 1999, the poorest 20 percent had 8.8 percent of
the wealth. The richest 20 percent possessed 42 percent.
With nearly 80 percent of Pakistan' s population over 25
having little or no schooling, this situation is unlikely to
change.
Endemic poverty has spurred the informal economy .
In recent years the drug and arms trade, strengthened by
upper-level collusion and mafia-like operations, has

Violence in Karachi

From the W ashington Post in 2002:
“One block down and just around the corner
from the U.S. Consulate, which was shaken by a car
bomb, stands the restaurant where W all Street Journal
reporter Daniel Pearl disappeared. (Daniel Pearl
was tortured and beheaded by al-Qaeda terrorists in
2002.) Three blocks farther along is the Sheraton
Hotel, where another car bomb killed 11 French
engineers. From there it' s just a hundred yards to
the bridge where a man with an AK-47 shot dead
four Houston oil company auditors on their way to
work. And this would be Karachi' s very best
neighborhood.”

A significant characteristic of urban populations in
Pakistan is that they are largely people from rural back-
grounds. Consequently , urbanization is couched in rural
tradition. Most work is in the manufacturing and service
sectors and most is labor-intensive. The informal sector
of the dual economy is critical to the survival of millions.
The government is convinced that improving rural
conditions will stem the ongoing rural-to-urbanmi-
gration streams that have turned Pakistan' s cities into
unmanageable, crowded behemoths. Electrification of
villages has been a high priority . Power in the country-
side can light homes, pump water, and grind grain. The
number of villages electrified increased to 126 thousand
by 2007, an increase of 11 percent from 2005.
Urbanization is obviously tied to population growth.
Although Pakistan has had family planning since 1952,
programs have not been very effective. The rural fertility