WHATEVER you may think of Sir Winston Churchill as a politician, the fact remains that he was one of the most prominent political figures to have come out of World War II, and a writer of decent merit. Perhaps that is why in 1951 the voters in the United Kingdom elected him for a second term as prime minister of their country.

On Jan 15, 1965 Sir Winston suffered a stroke which aggravated his poor health because he hadn’t been keeping well. On Jan 24 he passed away. He was 90. The news of his death was relayed in no time and memorial services in his honour were held across the world.

On Jan 30, 1965, a considerable number of people attended the joint service in memory of Sir Winston Churchill at the Holy Trinity Cathedral Church in Karachi. The congregation was headed by then British High Commissioner in Pakistan Sir Morrice James and Lady James. The service was conducted by the Reverend Ross Tulley, vicar of Holy Trinity and the Reverend A. Lawson, Minister of St Andrew’s Church of Scotland.

The reason for a big gathering at the church, obviously, was that in those days there were no, or negligible, security concerns for events involving foreign missions. So much so, foreigners even used to suggest that Pakistan was a country where international financiers could safely invest their money.

On Jan 26, Dr Max Walter Clauss, director of the international section of the Hanover Fair, took part in a meeting of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry Karachi. Speaking on the occasion, Dr Clauss appreciated the dynamic growth of private enterprise in Pakistan and termed the country very favourable for foreign investment. Alas, you can’t say that about present-day Pakistan. Can you?

Not that everything was hunky-dory in 1965. In the week under discussion a strike caught the attention of both the public and government officials. On Jan 25 M. Ilyas Khan, joint secretary of the Pakistan City Muslim League, went on hunger strike in front of the KDA offices to press for a few demands, foremost of which was to do with the rehabilitation of 40 families evicted from New Karachi quarters for not having allotment papers. On Jan 27 Syed Mahboob Ali and on Jan 28 Qazi Hamid Hussain joined the strike, making the media take note of the issue and putting pressure on the authorities concerned to lend an ear to the protesters.

Now a couple of nuggets of information on literary and academic fronts, as our beloved city has always been, and will continue to be, a potpourri of diverse activities unfolding simultaneously. On Jan 25, Lt-Commandar Anwar was elected the secretary of the executive committee of the Pakistan Writers Guild, Karachi region, at a meeting chaired by acting secretary of the PWG Jamiulddin Aali at the PWG office. Aali sahib recently turned 90.

And on Jan 28 the report published in quite a few newspapers that Karachi University had approved award of PhD degrees to graduates of the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre was greeted with a great deal of satisfaction. The subjects in which the degree would be awarded were anatomy, physiology, pharmacology, microbiology and biochemistry.

Published in Dawn, January 26th, 2015

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