Situation being created where migrants outnumber locals, says Pakistani academic Hasan

Pakistani architect and academic Arif Hasan on Thursday stated that a situation is being created across South Asia where, due to changing values and lifestyles, the number of migrants in cities has started to outnumber the locals.

"I think society is its values. We are caught up with values and lifestyles which are different from those of rural areas and this is creating cities where the migrants will ultimately dominate instead of the local people. In Karachi it is already like that - there are more migrants than the local people," Hasan said, while speaking at a conference titled 'Between The People And The Polis', organised by Nepal based magazine Himal Southasian here in the national capital.

"I think that is one difference, we will be dealing with cities with people with many diverse features and somehow we have to bring them together", he added.

Stating that South Asian nations experience similar situations, Himal Southasian editor Kanak Mani Dixit said that the situation in Karachi is similar to that in Mumbai, Dhaka and Kathmandu, predicting that it will happen in Kabul next.

"The experiences all over South Asia are very actually very similar and we must learn and cross-pollinate and learn from each other. The kind of distress that the people are suffering and experiencing in the Karachi region has absolute mirror images in Mumbai, Dhaka and now in Kathmandu and it will soon happen in Kabul," he said.

"These mega cities do not care for the poor and that is a common problem in South Asia. It does not do when you have to deal with issues which involve large number of people in distress. That is why we thought Arif Hasan, who is a world expert on subjects such as mega cities of South Asia, should be brought to New Delhi. His message must go all over," he added.