Adil Ahmad

Ghazan Khan, the wise old man of Shireen Jinnah Colony “Imran Khan wants to jump straight onto the roof,” says Ghazan Khan as he goes about repairing an old radio not worth very much and quite pre-historic in the modern scheme of things. But a reassuring sight, nonetheless, that there are still people in the world who treasure their old things and intent on getting them fixed and working. “But to climb to the roof requires a ladder and a one step at a time approach.” As a social scientist I have often frequented the Shireen Jinnah Colony. It presents a fascinating mosaic of Pakistan’s frontier spirit, and has gained a fair bit of notoriety in the guns and drugs bazaar, though unjustly I feel. This is hub of the mighty tanker-trawlers that ply the nation’s highways, carting all manner of liquid goods, inflammable and otherwise, from the massive tanker storages that dot the Kemari landscape. These behemoths of the road are ridden by seasoned riders accustomed to seasoning their endur