01.00.09

Putting body into car

v/o

He's Mother Theresa of Pakistan... To many he's

almost a saint... Everyday Sattar Edhi collects the

dead and abandoned from the streets of Karachi.

00.22

Edhi's ambulance/car

Edhi driving

SOT ambulance siren and driving sounds

Around him, one of the world's biggest cities is

descending into chaos.

00.51

Shovelling dirt

Getting body out of car

Edhi organising men

to pray

Burial sequence

NATSOT digging

Praying Edhi: 'allahu akbah'

A one man social security system, Sattar Edhi and

his volunteers run clinics and emergency centres,

take in unwanted babies and bury unwanted dead.

01.21

Long shots of the cemetery

showing grave markers

Edhi's massive graveyard outside Karachi looks like

a war cemetery.

Most buried here don't have names, only numbers.

01.31

- traffic wipe to

reveal Edhi in ambulance, he

pulls up, gets out of car and

walks into office (tho not out

of shot)

NATSOT traffic, probably siren

This year alone more than fourteen hundred

people have been killed in Karachi.

Its become one of the most dangerous places on

earth.

In the middle of the city, Edhi headquarters are an

island in the storm.

02.06

Edhi intvu

SYNC Edhi

SUB TITLE - Our country's political situation is

being run by feudal landlords, tribal leaders, tax

cheating industrialists. They’ve all grouped

together to totally take over and run the country.

02.23

- speeding

ambulance thru virtually

empty streets - also shot of

siren and flashing light on

top of ambulance

NATSOT ambulance siren, horn blowing

Today, as it does about once a week, the city is

grinding to a standstill.

The MQM, the party with de facto control of

Karachi, is showing its strength by calling a strike

day.

02.45

- sequence of racing

ambulance, tracking shots of

closed shops

radio

- tast tracking shot past

closed shops and narrow

lanes

radio sot

SOT - SUB-TITLE:

There's a lot of security . ...also a lot of burnt cars.

Each cross road is a snipers alley...... in this part of

town any driver is a strike breaker, any car or bus

is a target.

SOT - SUB-TITLE:

They have a lot of weapons and there are small

lanes...we can't get in there.

- driving past

and then stopping in front of

line of police/ paramilitary

vans

There's no official war here but much of Karachi

looks like a battlefield.

Two years ago the MQM, an ethnically Indian

party won Karachi's elections.

Pakistans government threw them out and

brought in the army.

After months of battles and bloodshed the army

withdrew.

Now Karachi has thirty thousand police and

paramilitaries.

03.36

03.36 - Drive up to

body,

get out of car look at body.

body being rolled over,

loaded on to stretcher and put

into ambulance

police collecting 'evidence' at

scene

The one constant has been Karachi's growing death toll.

Behind some houses, this empty land is a regular

dumping ground for bodies.

The feet and hands are bound, there are signs of

torture.

Most likely it's an MQM assassination, the fate of

an informer.

Its barely matters. In a city fueled by drug dealing,

gun running, and bribery ...murder is expected.

04.27

Edhi sync

could overlay first sentence

and cut line from

to

SYNC Edhi

SUB TITLE - In every neighbourhood there's a

centre where the criminals operate and control the

They sell alcohol at

ordinary people

night, gamble, blackmail the neighbours

extort money. And during elections and

demonstrations, they're used by the political

parties.

04.51

interior shot of

police station looking out

thru bars

NATSOT

A few blocks from the dumping ground the local

police station is stranded on a frontline.

05.00

- paramilitary post on

roof....if time, empty streets as

well

Behind it, paramilitaries man the rooftops, in

front of it, MQM snipers hide in the streets.

- kids running to

see body, crowd gathers

round, untying feet and

wrists

policeman writing on

clipboard - cutaways of kids

and adults looking

For the police, a dead body is routine paperwork.

Investigating is almost out of the question.

Identifying the victim is hard enough, finding the

criminal...is almost impossible.

Its a black joke in Karachi that when the police

hear gunfire, they run in the opposite direction.

05.32

- int of police

station - police on phone,

putting paperwork in

cupboard, maybe the ext of

the cells

Identikit pix on wall

talking beside identikit

computer operator

But it's hardly surprising. They're paid a pittance

and almost every day one of them is murdered.

It's a sign of the decay that Karachi's only

computerised investigation system has been

developed by a millionaire businessman.

SYNC Yusuf (english)

- And we develop it a bit further till we

have a proper sketch of the person.

And do the police have anything

like this?

06.08

sequence of identikit on

screen with facial elements

changing, plus

- other stuff

roound the room of

computers

A. No the police do not. I mean this is the only

computer available not only in Karachi, but in

Pakistan." (19 sex)

Jamil Yusuf's unlikely career change began when

a spree of kidnappings blitzed Karachi's

businessmen.

Helped out by the army, Yusuf tapped phones, and

did what the police hadnt...... in his words, he

wiped out the kidnappers.

Since then, Jamil Yusuf has been taking on a new

and more difficult target.

06.36

Jamil Yusuf intvu

SYNC: SYNC english -

In Karachi you can say theres been a total collapse

of the rule of law which has been decaying for

quite a few years

06.46

2 shot etc

Corrupt police, argues Yusuf, are the willing tools

of corrupt politicians. In Karachi, he says, theres a

fine line between police fighting criminals and the

government targetting its opposition.

07.03

Jamil Yusuf intvu

SYNC english

Theres been extortion going on, people are

suffering, theyd be willing to swap over to the

government provided they feel confidence in the

government, provided innocent people are not

put behind bars and implicated in wrong cases.

07.19

camels, women on beach

NATSOT and music

How much people really support the MQM is

arguable.

When it was in power it did little to help them.

Now that its out, its battle with the government is

killing Pakistans richest commercial centre.

07.46

port, ships, containers

Karachi's still the country's biggest port but foreign

investors are fleeing.

Local businesses are crippled by strikes and

shutdowns.

These days, living in Karachi and avoiding the

city's battle is getting more and more difficult.....

08.03

- glittery lights, balloons

people chatting at party

Sameer in dark suit, shirt and

tie

SOT general party noises

but some are still trying.

A night out for Karachi's well to do often means

an expensive party at a five star hotel.

Though he probably doesnt realise it, tonight,

Samir is the guest of honour.

08.32

- mum and sameer

holding big sharp knife -

balloons burst etc - if this cuts

- if not leave out SOT and

continue v/o

SOT

- can we get 'happy birthday' singing

around the cake in here?

He's celebrating his first birthday.

- musical chairs

sequence , enthusiastic

parents encouraging their

kids

SOT musical chairs music and kids/ parents

screeching

Like his friends the chances are Samir will grow

up in a divided city, he'll drive to work on

flyovers that that by pass the poor suburbs, live

behind shuttered windows.... and keep security

guards outside his door.

(backlay first cpla words of PTC and mix with more

Happy Birthday music)

This is the other side of Karachi, the old

home town of Pakistans PM Benazir Bhutto. But

these days she spends little time here. Karachi's

influential rfamilies may still be here making

money, but on the other side of their security

fences, pakistans biggest city is running out of

control...and they like the PM are doing little to

stop it.

09.18

SYNC Bhutto (english)

As a K'ite I've been very concernd about the

rise of the politics of violence and the rise of

politics of violence has been associated with an

ethnic party known as the MQM

1944 Q. Do you accept though that the MQM does

have public support in Karachi?

1949 1 dont think MQM has monopoly on Karachi,

no. MQM has pockets of support where it has been

assisting in the illegal immigration trade and

where people live in slums and blahs and there's a

sense of deprivation so they have been trying to

exploit that sense of deprivation.(edit)

It started off in 1985 an d it exhorted people to

in videos and tv and to buy arms and theres been a

killing spree.

10.07

Hospital Emergency ext, cops

with guns? Edhi ambulance

arriving

NATSOT brief

But Karachis' terror is only one danger.

Years of neglect have added others, almost as

lethal.

getting her out of ambulance

Faisal (in glasses) lifting foot

of stretcher

doctors fumbling with power

point, blood everywhere

blood drip, etc to complete

sequence

A mother of ten, Sardara Begum did nothing

more than ride in a bus on an MQM strike day.

Now Sattar Edhis son Faisal has rushed her to

hospital in an voluntary ambulance.

Faisal (english)

What happened

On a bus..she's been shot twice

cut to reverse qu...what sort of condition is she in ?

Pretty grim

Sadaras been brought to Civil Hospital - one of

only four government emergency hospitals in a

city of eight million people.

This is casualty.

The chances of saving a life here are minimal.

The blood drip, if it works has to be carried.

Theres little light, little equipment and little thats

clean.

Even Baghdads hospitals after years of sanctions,

are in better condition.

11.14

- manual

weaving on loom

continue weaving

NATSOT clunking of manual loom

Turning Karachi around now could be

demanding the impossible.

Even the small traditional industries are dying.

In Karachi's poor northern suburbs, weavers are

known for their fine silk and delicate patterns.

A full day's weaving only earns four dollars... but

now even that's getting difficult.

11.44

women, plus another

translating - Overlay

beginning of last grab of

woman

various shots

women

two [backlay over clunking loom or cont clunking

loom to cover women]

SYNC

SUB TITLE You know you never know when a

bullet might come in and hit you - it could be

anytime from anywhere.

Between them Saira and Alia have ten children.

They weave at home, often surrounded by

fighting.

But selling their silk has become almost

impossible, its difficult to travel and the nearby

shop is too afraid to open.

12.09

Berween walking and talking thru poor streets

some side streets

SOT street sounds

In some areas and for some years, Karachi ites

have been picking up the pieces.

Abandoned by governments the people of Orangi

built a self-help project that's been copied all over

the world.

It was they say all working reasonably well tili a few

months ago, when the government brought in the

paramilitary.

Since then there's been more violence and

shooting.

It's a sign of the crisis that Pakistan's government

has begun talking to the MOM opposition.

12.38

Question

Woman answers.

What do people think about talks, do they take them

seriously?

No not at all.

So far the talks have gone nowhere.

12.48

SYNC Bhutto interview

Question

Bhutto

Question

Bhutto

Question

Bhutto

How much can a government fo . That's what I'd like

to ask because we have fed people this false notion

that the government can take care of everything

from the cradle to the grave.

Of course a government can't do everything, I

appreciate that point but can you understand how

people would fee/ angry with the governemnt and

alienated from it when they have to live in the

miserable sons of conditions that there are in amny

parts of Karachi?

yes peo/e were angry but who was responsible, it

was the MQM They were in government in '87, they

were in governement in '88, they were in

government in 1990... what did they do for the

people of Karachi? They ate up the money of

Karachi, they used it to pay their cadres, they used it

on entertainment, they used it in guns, they used it

to transfer money to foreign countries. And can the

press write about it - no Karachi's press can't write

because if Karachi's press write about it - they get

killed.

I'm sorry

Can we go onto other questions ?

May I just ask one more question ?

No because I've answered enough questions on this

13.57

Jamil Yusuf

SYNC Yusuf (english)

Now its nearly all over the city. Its not that I can

close my eyes to another part because it has

reached my house also. The fire has spread and I

may be a victim tomorrow. I might be living in

any other district of Karachi but I could be a victim

very fast.

14.15

kids in orphanage

playground, on swings,

playing with Mr and Mrs

NATSOT kids playing noises

Karachi does still have its optimists and ideallists.

Ask Sattar Edhi where he finds hope....and he'll

bring you here to one of his orphanages.

Karachis orphans call Sattar Edhi and his wife

mummy and daddy ....

They too are Karachi's victims - the children of the

poor and the murdered.

14.53

I've buried 135,000 people, taken care of

260,000 destitutes but none of it means as much to

me as spending time with these children.

Kubra sync

To these children, Sattar Edhi means hope.

Their city may need a lot but what theyre asking

for is heart breakingly little.