If you are a Karachiite, and even if you do not live here but visit the city on a regular basis, you would surely be familiar with Nishtar Park. The park is one of the favourite, if not the favourite, venues for political and religious parties to hold public rallies. If it evokes quite a few historic recollections, it has its fare share of bad memories too. But it was not always called Nishtar Park. It was originally known as Patel Park, which, as a couple of history lovers have suggested, was named after the Congress leader Vallabhbhai Patel. This needs corroboration, though.

So, when was Patel Park rechristened? Well, on Nov 9, 1965 the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) called a meeting of its top officials, chaired by the corporation’s vice chairman Hafiz Mohammad Habibullah. It was decided at the meeting that Patel Park be renamed Nishtar Park to perpetuate the memory of the veteran Muslim League leader Sardar Abdur Rab Nishtar. It has to be kept in mind that it was the time when tensions with India were high because of September’s war, and Pakistani society was rapidly moving towards finding its own cultural space and identity.

This can also be determined from the fact that two days later, on Nov 11, the Pakistan Writers’ Guild arranged an event at Hotel Metropole to meet a team of visiting writers from Lahore. Speaking on the occasion, president of the Anjuman Taraqqi-i-Urdu Akhtar Husain stressed the need for coming out with more and better books on the independence struggle of Pakistan and its cultural heritage to educate the younger generation. Perhaps it was the distinguished Urdu poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz who made a more significant point. He said the way writers and poets had reacted during the recent emergency had belied the impression that there was no contact between them and the common man.

The next day, Nov 12, following the same train of thought, Radio Pakistan made a startling announcement. At a press conference, director general of the organisation Zahur Azhar told journalists that Radio Pakistan had decided to stop playing Indian music.

Come to think of it, Faiz sahib was right. Here’s why: on Nov 9, this newspaper ran a review of a play titled ‘Adhi roti ek langoti’, staged at the Arts Council on Nov 6, terming it a satire on India’s aggression against Pakistan. Written and directed by Ali Ahmed, according to the reviewer, the drama was full of humorous lines satirising the falsehood of the Indian propaganda machinery and exposing its claims of military exploits.

China was one of the few countries that had stood by Pakistan in the 1965 India-Pakistan war. During the week under discussion, a delegation of Chinese newsmen was in Karachi. The Karachi Press Club hosted a reception in honour of the visiting Chinese mediamen. Talking to the members of the journalist fraternity, the leader of the delegation, Chang Chin-chin, said China would continue to support the right of self-determination of the Kashmiri people and Pakistan’s resistance to India’s expansionist designs. He also commented: “The people of Pakistan are beautiful and heroic.”

The good thing despite the war-related buzz was that Pakistan kept moving on the path of development. On Nov 14, West Pakistan Minister for Basic Democracies Mohammad Yasin Khan Watoo inaugurated an aquarium near the Clifton beach. Admiring the prized project of the KMC, he remarked that the aquarium reflected high technical skills of municipal engineers, and hoped that the recreation spot would be able to fulfill citizens’ desire for colour and beauty. Sadly, the aquarium did not last even half a century.

Published in Dawn, November 9th, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play