Lahore government versus its trash collectors: what went wrong?

On the night of the 21st of December 2020, reporters across Lahore began getting vague calls from Turkish companies working in Pakistan, asking them to attend an emergency press conference. Dedicated as they are to their jobs, some of the reporters managed to get up from their greasy dinners or sleepless slumbers and went over to the hastily organised presser. 

What they found there was astounding. Officials from the company milled about looking rather annoyed and as if they had not been the ones to call up this meeting with such short notice. It was not clear what had happened, but a small crowd had gathered, and they did not look happy. It quickly became apparent that something was not right. 

The companies in question were Al-Bayrak and Ozpak. The two Turkish waste management companies had come to Pakistan nearly a decade ago under the invitation of then-Punjab Chief Minister, Mian Shehbaz Sharif of the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N). Back then, they had been portrayed as saviours of the city, helping turn Lahore into a dynamic, modern city. But here they were late at night condemning the Lahore Waste Management Company (LWMC) for a raid conducted on their workshops with assistance from the Punjab Police. 

So how did relations between the LWMC and Lahore’s former leading lights sour so much that the LWMC felt it necessary to bang open doors with a police escort and start pulling out drawers and confiscating files? Profit looks at what went bad with Lahore’s waste management system.