KARACHI: Anti-encroachment drives in Karachi never lose relevance. The issues of burgeoning demographic and unauthorised shops have always, well at least since the 1960s, given the authorities a great deal to scratch their heads over.

On April 21, 1969 more than a thousand street hawkers and vendors from Preedy Street, Frere Street and Mansfield Street were cleared by the police to keep the area clean. The hawkers, unlawfully occupying pavements and side-ways inside Empress Market and Shahabuddin Market, were told to go away. As a result, the busy Preedy Street wore an unaccustomed tidy look after a long time and pedestrian traffic moved freely without any obstruction on the pavements.

Obviously, the campaign had much to do with the ever-increasing population in the city that was now cramping spaces. On April 23, Enver Adil, secretary for the Family Planning Division, inaugurated the Sixth Biannual Seminar on Research in Family Planning at a hotel. Speaking to the audience, he said the issue of population explosion is of equal concern to all the people regardless of their social status and political affiliation. Outlining the various problems. he remarked: “The subject should not be brought to political exploitation. To achieve the goal we have to undertake both short-term and long-term planning.” He advised personnel attached to the Family Planning Programme to put in more than the normal efforts. It is clear that his advice fell on deaf ears.

The bigger the population, the harder it is to look after their well-being. People’s health and safety is of the utmost importance to the government. In that context it was a difficult time for Karachiites. On April 23, the media claimed that every sixth patient brought to the outpatient departments of the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre and Civil Hospital during the ongoing month suffered from malaria. Statistics showed that the two hospitals received an average of 265 cases of malaria each day. About 15 per cent of them had high fever ranging from 103 to 105 degrees Fahrenheit when brought to hospital. The largest number of patients came from Lyari and Korangi. Doctors attributed the prevalence of malaria in the city to the excessive breeding of mosquitoes, particularly in low-lying areas.

On April 24, a meeting of the Vector Control Board was called to study the mosquito issue and consider effective measures to tackle it. A report of the board prepared for the occasion highlighted the various breeding grounds in the city pointing out that one of the major causes for the mosquito explosion is that “almost the entire Karachi sewerage flow is exposed”.

Hygiene wasn’t the only thing that the city fathers were looking into that week. Discipline and decorum was another. On April 26, Karachi’s traffic police issued an order according to which all drivers of buses, taxis and auto-rickshaws were told to wear neat and clean uniforms and carry badges above the left hand side-pockets. The order also directed the owners of the vehicles to provide their drivers with uniforms by May 15. It was for the first time that uniforms would be introduced for public transport drivers. Did they pay heed to the order? Not sure.

Now to the not-to-be-ignored cultural aspect of the Sindh capital: on April 22, a review of a theatre play staged at Theosophical Hall was published in this newspaper. It called the drama Ik Tere Ane Se, written by Bano Qudsia and directed by Zaheer Bhatti, a poignant comedy with punch-lines that not only made the audience laugh but moved them. The play revolves around a middle-class family with a man (Jamshed Ansari) eager to push his way up in society; his wife (Rizwana Masood) eager to keep up with the Joneses; his mother (Zeenat Yasmeen) determined to maintain her slipping control over the family; the couple’s three children and a rather foolish but loyal servant (Qazi Wajid). The reviewer claimed that Zeenat Yasmin dominated the play with her convincing performance.

Ah, Jamshed Ansari and Qazi Wajid, two of the finest actors that Pakistan has produced, are no longer with us.

Published in Dawn, April 22nd, 2019