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As Karachi reels from yet another round of “unprecedented” monsoon flooding that claimed lives, paralysed the city, and left thousands stranded this week, actor Zara Tareen has taken to Instagram to point out an often-overlooked factor in the crisis: the role of citizens themselves.

In a detailed note on her stories, Tareen acknowledged the government’s neglect, and crumbling infrastructure but stressed that the city’s residents are not blameless. “As much as there is a genuine neglect issue when it comes to Karachi and its infrastructure, there’s another thing that I notice without fail every year,” she wrote.

“Anyone who gets on camera from various neighbourhoods complaining about the city management while showing their streets never ever talks about the visible mounds of trash they throw in those streets all year long. Your filth contributes to blocked drainage systems as well. Keep your damn streets clean all year long instead of just pointing fingers once a year when you’re also the cause of a lot of this issue yourself.”

The actor described how garbage is routinely tossed from balconies, terraces and windows into neighbours’ homes and back alleys, turning them into “self-selected designated areas for trash that collects for years.”

She also criticised the apathy of those who avoid using dumpsters even when they are available. “I’ve seen in Clifton that even when a trash chute is provided by the building, most people can’t be bothered to put it in there; they just leave it outside of it for it to rot,“ she wrote.

Tareen noted how these piles of rubbish attract stray animals, which are then killed instead of the areas being cleaned. Calling the practice both “frustrating and embarrassing,” she asked bluntly, “Why are we such dirty people?”

At a glance, her words, too, might feel like gaslighting for tax-paying citizens who, year after year, expect their money be used to build a functional drainage system to solve the city’s flooding problem once and for all. But as triggered as we may get, Tareen is not wrong for reminding us of our civic duty of keeping our neighbourhoods, and, in turn, our city clean.

While climate change, poor planning and government mismanagement remain central to Karachi’s flooding woes, everyday practices of littering and disregard for public spaces aggravate the problem. Choked drains cannot carry water away, leaving even so-called ‘developed’ neighbourhoods like Clifton and DHA submerged. This is not a problem in one or two areas — it’s a problem across the city.

Karachi’s annual monsoon disaster is often framed solely as a failure of governance — and it undeniably is — but Tareen’s comments highlight the shared responsibility that comes with living in the metropolis. A functioning city requires both state accountability and civic responsibility. Without the latter, the cycle of rain, waste and waterlogging is bound to repeat, year after year.