These monsoons have not been too kind to the commercial hub of Karachi. So far, the rains that have battered the city for the past couple of days have left five people dead in separate incidents and many angry residents wondering where their city administration is. The rains are nothing new; they are a common feature in this part of the world, particularly during this season when the monsoons fall heavily in India and Pakistan. The massive floods of 2010 that left as much as one fifth of the country inundated with water, a national catastrophe if ever there was one, should have served as a lesson for future dispensations to ready themselves for deluges in this season. No such luck for the hapless citizens who, in Karachi, have seen people electrocuted and walls collapsing to kill and hurt them. Karachi just seems to be the precursor to the sorry fact that the rest of the country too ought to brace itself for the rainy season. The PPP government and its coalition partner, the MQM, is in charge in Sindh and it seems it is being criminally negligent of what is needed to deal with the situation. Barely having dealt with the tragedy of the drowning deaths in the sea, the city’s rains, so far, have left conditions utterly hopeless with drainage and sewerage systems unable to handle the deluge and flooding taking place in the drains and pouring out all over the roads and streets, leaving commuters and pedestrians stranded and soaked. The PPP is supposed to be the government that looks after the needs of the common people, or at least that is what their mantra has always been. The people look towards the MQM and the PPP for some sort of welfare and resolution to their woes. The recent rains have brought many woes indeed and the situation seems set to get worse with the rains continuing unabated. We are still reeling from the after effects of the floods from 2010 onwards with flood-affected victims still without shelter and rehabilitation. It seems the Sindh government has washed its hands of all responsibility with the commencement of law and order operations in the port city. That is not all that is needed for Karachi. There are citizens there that need a government to take care of them and to prevent further mishap. The likely coming floods will provide a testing time to this dispensation. *