Instant City: Life and Death in Karachi

Steve Inskeep

Viking,

304 pages, R599

The decision to divide Pakistan and India along religious lines in 1947 unleashed deep religious, ethnic and political divisions within Karachi, a city that has rapidly grown from a colonial port town of 350,000 in 1941 to a sprawling metropolis of at least 13 million today. Inskeep investigates the 2009 bombing of a Shia religious procession that killed dozens of people and led to further acts of terrorism. The bombing is just one illustration of the numerous conflicts that divide Karachi. Yet, despite the violence, Inskeep finds remarkable signs of the city’s tolerance, vitality and thriving civil society.