LATELY, there’s been a great deal of talk about the much needed de-weaponisation process in the country, especially in Karachi. Justifiably so because the kind of naked exhibitionism of guns that has these days become part of certain powerful groups goes to show how violence is glorified in our society. A lot of people harbour the notion that things in the past were not as bad. True, they were not as bad as they are now, but the fact is that the use and show of weapons in our society has always been a social marker of sorts, and something that the authorities concerned have always tried to keep a check on.

On Oct 10, 1966 it was announced that the Karachi police had launched a campaign to recover unlicensed arms. It was believed that arms and ammunition made in the country were being sold at cheap rates in the city by the underworld racketeers. Apart from that, the police were also after a number of licence holders who had either not obtained renewals of their licences or ignored the government’s directives to deposit unlawful arms.

It was a plausible campaign because the law enforcement agencies at the time did not shilly-shally about important issues. For example, last week it was mentioned in these pages that on Oct 8 customs officials seized the biggest haul of gold in the history of the country. On Oct 11, five motor launches worth Rs500,000 were detained in connection with the investigations into the smuggling of the five and a half maunds of gold.

But then, with the civic bodies the word ‘swift’ cannot always be associated. They take their sweet time in reaching a conclusion, or, in certain cases, venues. In the second week of October, the government had sent a query to the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) that why so many items had been kept pending on its agenda for years. One of the reasons was that it required a two-thirds majority in the house for taking important decisions, and having such a number was not always forthcoming. In a reply, the KMC chairman said that more often than not the meetings in the house subsisted on bare quorums. However, on Oct 12, the situation suddenly turned on its head as over 80 members were seen taking part in a meeting and six items held in abeyance for months were approved by the house, reportedly, in less than three minutes. Ah, feats that pressure from the above can help you achieve!

By the way, the KMC in those days was not short of funds, so thrift was something that it did not care about. On Oct 15, this newspaper published a news item under the headline ‘costly garbage’. According to it, the corporation was spending Rs175,188 per year on burning garbage for which 110 persons were employed. An exorbitant amount, indeed.

Another exorbitant thing that needed attention that week was the city’s weather conditions. Karachiites, for a second time in the ongoing month, felt as if autumn had slipped back to summer. It was exceedingly hot and dry on Oct 11 and the Met department did not help the citizens by saying that the worst was yet to come. The maximum temperature that day shot up to 102 degrees Fahrenheit – 14 degrees above normal – and humidity slumped to 24 per cent as against the average 65 per cent. Oh Karachi, you never welcome the winter season with open arms.

Published in Dawn October 10th, 2016