No Mr. Bond, I expect you to die...If the Mercer Quality of Living survey was to be believed, Karachi is currently the 3rd most dangerous city in the world to inhabit, right behind Baghdad and Kinshasa, the capital of the Republic of the Congo. That's some pretty badass company to be in. I mean we all know what's going on with Baghdad, but no way are we sleeping on Kinshasa. I've seen "Blood Diamond", I know all about the child soldiers and the diamond mines, and frankly if Leo and his South African accent can't tame them, then who are we to try. Anyway, the point here is that Karachi is apparently an extremely dangerous place to be kicking it these days (i.e. I haven't heard from Fahad in 7 days). So who do you call upon to lead the municipal government of a place that makes pre-Bruce Wayne Gotham look like Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory? Khawateen o' hazarat..meet mayor Mustafa Kamal!
Name: Mustafa "Masti" Kamal
Hey, Mustafa Kamal? That sounds sort of familiar to me but I can't put my finger on it: Perhaps you are thinking of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the Republic of Turkey....nerd.
Date of Birth: No confirmation on this. Either 1971 or 1972 according to various online sources. We think he probably shaved off a year for around 2001. Yaar, it's just harder to get rishta's after you hit 30.
Place of Birth: Wait a second...East Pakistan? And they elected him Mayor of the biggest city of Pakistan-proper? For the love of Rashid Minhas, who let this happen?
Official Title: Nazim Mustafa Kamal. Gotta admit, that sounds pretty hot. Diddy should sign him to a deal purely based on that title and that badass goatee.
Education: Undergraduate from Malaysia. MBA in Marketing from the University of Wales
Biwi / Bachay: Yes. Not a lot of information available on Mrs. Nazim, but met her during undergrad in Malaysia. She's from Tanzania, which I think is somewhere in East Africa, but since I don't want to look it up, I'm going to say all the women there look like a hybrid of Rihana and the hot South African lady in Lethal Weapon 2. SCORE Mr. Mayor! Bonus points on the Love marriage.
Political Background: Young Mustafa used to run with the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) crew back in the day. By his own admission, he has took time out from school and got into trouble with law post "matric"(10th grade). Loitered for a couple of years with the MQM and never completed his schooling in Pakistan. Left in 96 to study abroad. After completing his MBA, he took up an IT job in the UAE. Came back to Karachi to look after his mother after the passing of his father in 2002. Once back in Karachi, took up again with the old crew who convinced him to run for office within the Sindhi government. Elected as a member of Parliament in 2002, and assigned to the Office of Minister of Information Technology for the state of Sindh. Ran for mayor in 2005, easily defeating incumbent Naimatullah Khan by a margin of 1493 to 800.
Political Views: Upon his arrival into office, Mayor Mustafa has managed to avoid major political controversy and instead focused exclusively on fixing the city's infrastructure. He has aligned himself with the government of Prime Minister Pervez Musharraf which up to this point has been fruitful. Although that may change as the hybrid two headed monster that is the PPP and Nawaz Sharif's Muslim League continue their lovefest and gain more power.
Accomplishments: Has spent half a billion dollars on water and sewer projects in the poorest areas of the city over the last two years that are viewed at as a major success. In addition, under his watch the city has completed 6 over and underpasses that have brought some relief from the usually debilitating traffic. Work is also underway on a 47 story IT tower (The Prodigal Son Returns!) that would be one of the biggest in Asia.
Outlook: From what we have seen on the Mayor there is a lot to like. If he can continue to avoid the political traps, he may very well accomplish a lot before his time is up. There will of course be situations like the one in May when while he was on a trip to the US, the board was temporarily seized in a coup by the PPP. Why? Mostly because they were bored or some shit and that's what you do in Karachi when the boss is away. It was overturned a couple days later and order was restored but the point is it would be silly to think that everything will be smooth sailing from here on out. The mayor needs to stick to his guns as he has done thus far and treat these issues for what they are. Minor inconveniences that come with the job.
He is very loyal to where he came from, but realizes that the best for the city and even for the party for that matter is for him to keep his nose clean. He is open, down to earth and best of all can apparently program if you need him to. He is a bit idealistic, believing he can turn Karachi into Dubai within five years, which seems to be a bit of a pipe dream. But he should be admired for aiming for such a goal and working towards it.
We will end with this clip of the Mayor taking it hard to the audience while addressing a business community meeting:
Name: Mustafa "Masti" Kamal
Hey, Mustafa Kamal? That sounds sort of familiar to me but I can't put my finger on it: Perhaps you are thinking of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the Republic of Turkey....nerd.
Date of Birth: No confirmation on this. Either 1971 or 1972 according to various online sources. We think he probably shaved off a year for around 2001. Yaar, it's just harder to get rishta's after you hit 30.
Place of Birth: Wait a second...East Pakistan? And they elected him Mayor of the biggest city of Pakistan-proper? For the love of Rashid Minhas, who let this happen?
Official Title: Nazim Mustafa Kamal. Gotta admit, that sounds pretty hot. Diddy should sign him to a deal purely based on that title and that badass goatee.
Education: Undergraduate from Malaysia. MBA in Marketing from the University of Wales
Biwi / Bachay: Yes. Not a lot of information available on Mrs. Nazim, but met her during undergrad in Malaysia. She's from Tanzania, which I think is somewhere in East Africa, but since I don't want to look it up, I'm going to say all the women there look like a hybrid of Rihana and the hot South African lady in Lethal Weapon 2. SCORE Mr. Mayor! Bonus points on the Love marriage.
Political Background: Young Mustafa used to run with the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) crew back in the day. By his own admission, he has took time out from school and got into trouble with law post "matric"(10th grade). Loitered for a couple of years with the MQM and never completed his schooling in Pakistan. Left in 96 to study abroad. After completing his MBA, he took up an IT job in the UAE. Came back to Karachi to look after his mother after the passing of his father in 2002. Once back in Karachi, took up again with the old crew who convinced him to run for office within the Sindhi government. Elected as a member of Parliament in 2002, and assigned to the Office of Minister of Information Technology for the state of Sindh. Ran for mayor in 2005, easily defeating incumbent Naimatullah Khan by a margin of 1493 to 800.
Political Views: Upon his arrival into office, Mayor Mustafa has managed to avoid major political controversy and instead focused exclusively on fixing the city's infrastructure. He has aligned himself with the government of Prime Minister Pervez Musharraf which up to this point has been fruitful. Although that may change as the hybrid two headed monster that is the PPP and Nawaz Sharif's Muslim League continue their lovefest and gain more power.
Accomplishments: Has spent half a billion dollars on water and sewer projects in the poorest areas of the city over the last two years that are viewed at as a major success. In addition, under his watch the city has completed 6 over and underpasses that have brought some relief from the usually debilitating traffic. Work is also underway on a 47 story IT tower (The Prodigal Son Returns!) that would be one of the biggest in Asia.
Outlook: From what we have seen on the Mayor there is a lot to like. If he can continue to avoid the political traps, he may very well accomplish a lot before his time is up. There will of course be situations like the one in May when while he was on a trip to the US, the board was temporarily seized in a coup by the PPP. Why? Mostly because they were bored or some shit and that's what you do in Karachi when the boss is away. It was overturned a couple days later and order was restored but the point is it would be silly to think that everything will be smooth sailing from here on out. The mayor needs to stick to his guns as he has done thus far and treat these issues for what they are. Minor inconveniences that come with the job.
He is very loyal to where he came from, but realizes that the best for the city and even for the party for that matter is for him to keep his nose clean. He is open, down to earth and best of all can apparently program if you need him to. He is a bit idealistic, believing he can turn Karachi into Dubai within five years, which seems to be a bit of a pipe dream. But he should be admired for aiming for such a goal and working towards it.
We will end with this clip of the Mayor taking it hard to the audience while addressing a business community meeting:
2 comments:
son of a dalit obviously...dirty scoundrel kamal...from rags to corruption riches....and a slave of the black altaf
Hey anonymous! Thanks for reading!
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