LAST week it was mentioned in this column that on Nov 26, 1966 an Englishman, Frank Henry Gibbins, was arrested by the Karachi police for keeping an unlicensed revolver and 99 cartridges and trying to sell them to local people. Well, here’s a rather familiar follow-up to the story.

On Nov 28, this newspaper ran a report saying he was bailed out by the CIA on the midnight of Nov 26. First secretary of the British High Commission N. H. Marshal executed a surety bond of Rs2,000 for the purpose. Gibbins also executed a bond of Rs2,000 and undertook to appear before court. You may have an idea that what would have happened next. Free man.

What many of us don’t have an idea about is that Karachi used to have a Buddhist monastery. Where? Well, in the Gizri area. Yes, the city had a Buddhist population, though a very small one. On Nov 27, Karachi’s Buddhists celebrated Kartiki Purnima by offering prayers in the monastery, followed by Kirtan. In the evening a meeting was held to discuss various aspects of Buddhist life. Those of us who are interested in the pluralistic past of the Sindh capital may find it interesting to dig out information on this under researched subject.

Speaking of pluralism, Christmas was also around the corner. On Dec 3, a glimpse of the approaching festivities was seen at the annual Christmas Bazaar held by the Holy Trinity Cathedral. The most popular of all were the decoration stalls selling little Christmas trees, colourful candles, gift boxes and other table and tree decorative pieces. Large crowds surrounded the stall pushing away one another, bidding for the items from far off. Children too had much to enjoy, like pony rides and a film show.

While this was happening in the city, a ‘show’ of dissent was taking place somewhere else. On Dec 1, about 3,500 employees of 45 Karachi branches of the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) went on strike, demanding more pay and amenities. Two thousand employees assembled on Wood Street outside the NBP head office and labour union leaders addressed the meeting which decided to continue the strike until their demands were met.

The next day, Dec 2, the bank issued a notice saying that the West Pakistan Directorate had declared the strike illegal. The notice added that the subcommittee of the central board of directors met at 4pm under the chairmanship of Mr Rangoonwala and rejected the strikers’ demands. This meant that the workers carried on with their act of remonstration.

On Dec 3, the first formal round of negotiations was held among the NBP, Employees Federation and the Labour Directorate to resolve the issue. The talks yielded no results.

Let’s move away from the track a bit and shift from the money-savers to the money-spenders. That week, the people who liked to eat outside, regularly or occasionally, also found themselves in a bit of a quandary as city restaurants increased their rates of food items by 15 to 100 per cent. According to a report, chapatti, which was sold the previous year for six paisa apiece, was being offered for 12 paisa. Similarly, the rate of naan went up from 13 paisa to 20 paisa. The restaurant owners said they had to increase the rates because of the general increase in prices.

Published in Dawn, November 28th, 2016