THE issue of downsizing in Daily Anjam in the summer of 1966 refused to lose steam even a month after it caught the attention of the nation. Both the management of the newspaper and the journalist unions stood their ground. As is often the case, difference of opinion emerged among members of one camp. On July 19, 1966 the Pakistan Journalist Association was formed in Karachi at a hotel. The association elected H. B. Khokhar as its convener and set up an organising committee to frame its constitution, enroll members and elect its office-bearers. The association also appointed a three-member committee to look into the Anjam problem.

Obviously, it prompted a strong reaction from the already established media bodies in the city. On July 21, deputy chief of Dawn unit of the Karachi Union of Journalists [KUJ], Osman Haider, issued a statement in which he called it a matter of pain and regret that a separate body of journalists was being created. He added that coming up with such a mushroom organisation had never been known to have served any useful purpose.

In the meantime, two hunger strikers of Anjam, Nizam Siddiqui and Syed Waqiul Hasan, completed 65 hours of protest in front of the newspaper office on the evening of July 22. The sit-down demonstration by that time, mind you, had stretched into its 26th day. Wow, nearly a month.

The next day, however, at the request of KUJ president Minhaj Barna, the hunger strikers broke their fast because according to Mr Barna, negotiations had resumed with the management of the newspaper to settle the issue.

While the matter pertaining to the media was about to be settled, on July 19, the district magistrate of Karachi gave his final decision on a probe that had been going on for the previous few weeks into the deteriorating transport system in the city. He recommended an immediate increase of at least 300 buses to the existing bevy of public transport vehicles to facilitate commuters.

But almost all modes of transport needed attention at the time — and no different is the situation 50 years later. On July 21, a PIA Trident operating between Rawalpindi and Karachi got slightly damaged in the air. According to a PIA spokesman, while approaching land, the plane encountered a sudden and severe rain squall at Karachi airport and was immediately diverted to Mauripur where it landed safely.

Also landed safely, on July 23, in a library in North Nazimabad a copy of the first volume of the large handwritten diary in English by Sir Ross Masood titled Travels to Japan. The gift was given to the library by National Bank of Pakistan managing director Mumtaz Hasan. The copy consisted of five volumes spanning 400 pages. This is a noteworthy nugget of info for two reasons. One, Ross Masood, the grandson of Sir Syed, is no longer remembered in Pakistan. Second, it would be interesting to locate that library today.

Published in Dawn, July 18th, 2016