Not just Karachi, every city of Pakistan is important.
Karachi is important because it is mini Pakistan. When people bad mouth Karachi and its residents, they forget that only Urdu speaking people or the next generations of migrants don't live there, but people from all over Pakistan live and earn a decent living in this city.
According to 1998 Census, approximately half of the population of Karachi belonged to non-Urdu speakers.
According to the current estimates (using current data of the census), Urdu speakers are less than 45% and the second ethnic group in Karachi is Pushto speaking (25% of the total population)
People who think that Karachi is only the city of Urdu speakers forget that the migration from other parts of the country, and from Bangladesh (post 1971) contributed to the overall population of Karachi. Below trend is self explanatory for those ignorant people.
People say that migrants who came from India acted as leeches and Karachi was somewhat an Industrial hub at that time run by locals. This statement can be fact checked by the statistics of that time.
Pakistan inherited 20 percent of the subcontinent's population at the time of partition of India on August 14, 1947. However, her share in industry was less than seven percent, mostly consisting of small-scale and minor industrial units.
No creditable large industry existed in Pakistan at the time of its birth. Pakistan that included East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) as well had only 34 factories. The total employment provided by these factories was around 26,400.
The industry grew at a rapid pace of 19% per year with most contribution coming from Karachi. It was the businessmen coming from India who started establishing industries in the city and thus providing employment and and revenue to the whole country. Of course, when industry is setup in a city, the migration from other parts of the country also increases the pace.. Same thing happened and 1960s, 70s and 80s saw huge migration of other ethnic backgrounds making Karachi their permanent home. The city embraced all of them with open hands and thus the population of Karachi now consists mainly of the non-Urdu speakers who belong to Karachi and call this city their primary home.
I have collected data from Pakistani bureau of statistics, and have made a chart which explains the quality of the manufacturing sector established in Karachi. If you look at the chart below, it will be evident that despite owning 17 % of the total large scale industrial units in Pakistan, the ratio of number of people employed in higher, and the salaries and benefits they earn is much higher. This means that the salaries and benefits obtained from this city's manufacturing sector are much higher than other major industrial cities. The value of production is also much higher than other cities which means that the finished and semi finished products from this city are of better quality and thus attracting more value. I believe if we look at the cottage industry, we will find similar stats.
Out of 50 individual top income taxpayers of Pakistan, 33 belong to Karachi. Here we are not talking about Corporate tax, which many say that since Karachi is a port city, revenue collection will be much higher from this city. That measure is true if we only look at the corporate tax. These 33 top taxpayers include top three 3 top taxpayers of Pakistan as well and mostly belong to the industrial community of the city.
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This post of mine is not meant to undermine residents of other cities, but to tell people like
@Indus Pakistan that Karachi is not a shithole as you guys think it is, and Urdu speaking people are not leeches or are not welcoming to people of other ethnic backgrounds. What Karachi (45% Urdu and 55% non Urdu speakers) want is due share in infrastructure building, healthcare, education, metropolitan services, utilities distribution etc etc. People who live in this city are your people, they must be treated as such.
@Signalian @Mangus Ortus Novem @zulu @Dubious @war&peace @Reddington @ali_raza @CHACHA"G" @PaklovesTurkiye @Khafee @Verve @Shane @Farah Sohail @xyxmt @Cygnus Black @Starlord @American Pakistani @Syed1. @Imad.Khan @newb3e
I hope that indus pakistan is reading this post.. and reconsider his hate towards this city and its residents..