Nine-Eleven is a date on which we in Pakistan mourn a natural death and a date on which the world remembers and denounces an act incited by religious extremism which brought with it violent death.

On this day in 1948 in Pakistan our founder and maker, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, died, and in 2001 on the same date war came to mainland America with destruction of a kind never before witnessed or experienced.

Two days prior to 9/11 of this year, I was visited by a charming young woman and a cameraman, both from DawnNews. A friendly soul to man and beast, unlike some of the bearded heavyweights who visit and climb on to chairs or up trees when greeted by my team of Jack Russell terriers, the young woman reacted to them in a normal civilised and friendly manner. She had come to record a few words from me on Jinnah as I remembered him for a programme to be aired on his death anniversary.

What can I say, I asked, other than he was a gentleman, a man whose word was his bond, a man who lived life to the full and achieved what few have achieved — the creation of a country? He professed to be a democrat, but in reality was a benign dictator who harmed no one. He merely put his foot down when necessary — and that was most of the time.

How was he dressed, asked young Sophia? What did he wear? He bought his suits and ties from Sulka, and his silver from Aspreys, I told her. His monocles were made by Meyerowitz. His shoes were handmade, mostly `correspondents` as opposed to the normal footwear. I missed seeing the programme so have no idea as to what was cut and what was actually broadcast.

I suggested to her that she interview Yusuf Haroon, now the only living man who was his confidant as well as his guard commander. Yusuf lives in Connecticut but is now in Karachi. Whether she got to him or not, I do not know.

This 9/11 our brand new shining president, Asif Zardari, supported by Governor of Sindh Ishrat ul Ibad, and the ever-faithful evergreen Sindh Chief Minister Commuter Qaim Ali Shah, with his freshly dyed Cherry Blossom hair and moustache and unchanging facial expression, come hell or high water, duly went to offer themselves up at Jinnah`s tomb. As is the custom, they raised their eyes and hands before the empty catafalque and addressed themselves to their Creator. What they murmured, no one heard, but what it was that Jinnah growled out to them we can all easily guess.

They then all moved on to the visitors` book in which those who go to pay public homage record their innermost feelings. Recorded by Asif, in illegible handwriting resembling that of a stressed physician, were the words May Gaad (sic) give us the street (sic) to save Pakistan. Space precludes me from recording the lengthy ramblings of the other two.

Two days later, it can safely be said that the Omniscient and Omnipotent had heard Asif`s plea, for we read that his prime minister, the unsmiling Yousuf Raza Gilani, had assured us that Pakistan will not wage war against America. Faith had emerged triumphant, leaving Asif to finish off what Bush had started. At this, even I proclaimed, God be praised.

Now, on to the ravaged city of Karachi, and to parks and beaches the citizens are trying to salvage or save. Firstly, we have 55 acres of parkland, Ahmad Ali Park (locally known as Kidney Hill). Then, we have 450 acres of parkland, available for development for the benefit of the people, in the sewerage farm known as Gutter Baghicha. Also, 200 acres, stretching over some 14 km of seashore for which a movement known as Sahil Bachao (save the beachfront and resist the violation of the centuries old `Public Trust` doctrine) has been launched by groups of concerned citizens.

Kidney Hill and Gutter Baghicha are in court, where conditions being what they are the people are floundering. Petitions filed by the citizens in the Kidney Hill matter have just been dismissed, as the court declared that the government had made contradictory statements. The court recommended that the petitioners now file a suit. The situation in court is the same with Gutter Baghicha.

In the case of Kidney Hill, Governor Ishrat ul Ibad was persuaded by a group of concerned citizens early last year to intervene and attempt to settle the contentious matter. He promised to do so, but nothing ever came of his promises. He may care to re-examine the issue anew.

What the few of us battling losers, concerned with open spaces and parklands in this congested overpopulated city, really want is money from those who have money and vocal support from the public, the awam, who are the ultimate grand losers when they find themselves with a city in which open spaces, parks and beaches are few and far between. The total area of just the three projects I have mentioned is 705 acres — no mean acreage for essential recreational purposes of the poor and deprived.

To battle the marauders, who are supported always by the government of the day, is not an easy job. But there is an alternative to battling. Can the all-powerful president of the republic Asif Ali Zardari come to the help of the people of Karachi, the city in which his wife was born, raised and schooled? Concerted cries of Jeay Bhutto will not keep her memory alive. He has named in remembrance of her a road in Rawalpindi and an airport in Islamabad. In Karachi what he can do is on each of these three open spaces build and nurture parks in her memory, erect monuments, plant trees and flowers, make them into areas of peace and tranquillity where the poor and the rich may rest, breathe the air, even meditate, and in tranquillity remember the good done by Benazir Bhutto.