This Karachiite's Fight To Make His City Clean Is Absolutely Inspirational

By Arslan Athar | 9 Aug, 2016

This is part of a limited series, “14 Days, 14 Stories”, about ordinary Pakistanis who are doing extraordinary things in order to give back to Pakistan.

Karachi has seen more than it’s fair share of issues. From target killings to phone thefts the city has seen it all. However the bigger issues seem to cloud out the smaller problems that affect people’s standard of living. One such issue is that of public urination. Driving around the city, under an flyover or near large walls, you’re bound to see a man standing there and peeing in public. Not only is this a terrible sight to see but it affects those who live by the area because its plain old unhygienic.

 

One Karachiite has had enough and is sending one heck of a message

Tuaha Shaikh started a campaign against public urination and boy has it got bark.

Source: Tuaha Shaikh
Source: Tuaha Shaikh

We spoke to Tuaha about why he decided to take such an interesting stance against the problem.

“I find it disgusting that many men pee on the wall, I do understand that there are not many public toilets available, but if women can hold it and find restrooms to use why cant men do the same? So as an individual i do not have much power but i can at least try to create some awareness among the people who take public places to relieve themselves.”

The image of a dog peeing is striking but equally odd, and whats even stranger is the message ‘Yahan Peshaab Kijiye’. Why use an animal that pees almost anywhere to stop people from, well, doing the same.

 

According to Tuaha, “if you call someone a ‘Kutta’ you are in for solid fight, its demeaning and disrespectful in our culture”. Can’t fight with that logic. He also added that “the pun in my message is ‘you are most welcome to pee here, but just so you know, a dog does the same thing, he pees wherever he likes'”.

public-urinating-1
Source: newsnish.com

Now that is one heck of a message but the question is will people actually change their ways? Tuaha admits that he may not be able to change people’s habit (can’t teach an old dog new tricks now can you) but his intention is to create awareness and he’s pretty certain he will succeed in doing so. He wants people to take into consideration what they’re doing to their own environment, their own city and their own country. The decision to pee in public is not a personal one, it affects everyone who uses that space.

So far, Tuaha has put up his message in Karachi’s Empress Market area and plans to revisit the area in the coming days to see what feedback he gets from the community there.

public-urinating-2
Source: Waseem Khan

Tuaha hopes to put up ‘dogs’ in more parts of Karachi and spread the message even further. Hopefully Tuaha is able to make the impact he is wishing more because Karachi’s walls have seen enough neglect and damage. Its time we try and restore Karachi to its previous beauty.

 

For more stories from our series about extraordinary Pakistanis check out ‘14 Days, 14 Stories‘.

 

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