ISN’T it hard to believe? There was a time when Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) could boast of its profit-earning performance without avoiding eye contact with the media. And why not? The problems that the airline finds itself in these days have accumulated over a period of many years; they did not come to haunt it overnight. Without pointing fingers at who’s to blame for its present woes, let’s just celebrate the time when PIA was one of the finest airlines in the world with ‘great people to fly with’.

For example, on July 19, 1965 the operations director of the airline, Anwar Jamal, held a press conference at the PIA headquarters in Karachi. He claimed that the total operating profit earned by PIA in the previous six years, in the tenure of Air-Vice Marshal Nur Khan, was Rs10.54 crore, and that the year 1964-65 represented the best year for the airline because the profit was expected to be over Rs4 crore as against Rs2.51 crore in 1963-64. Wow! That’s awesome. Wait, before you jump to any conclusions.

At the same press meet, the operations director told another story. According to him, helicopter services in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) were incurring a loss of Rs36 lakh. There you go, what’s good for the goose may not always be good for the gander.

As for the issue of incurring losses, rains, despite their romantic associations, in our part of the world have seldom been a blessing. On July 20, the city received its first major monsoon rain of the year. The Met office (yes, it existed even back then) said it had recorded half an inch of rainfall. It started at 2pm and kept drizzling till late in the night.

The next day, July 21, the drizzle made way for heavy downpour. So much so that it flooded the low-lying areas, badly disrupting the transport system. Two persons died from electrocution as a wire fell on a horse-drawn carriage on Murad Khan Road in the Garden area. The horse also died. On Elphinstone Street (now Zaibunissa Street) an old building occupied by a shoe-selling company collapsed. Thankfully, those in and around the building had a miraculous escape. However, shoes worth Rs70,000 were damaged. The rains caused a massive power breakdown as well. Rains followed by power outage: nothing revelatory for Karachiites!

What may be revelatory to know, though, is that 50 years ago, the tax collection system in the country was not bad. Both taxpayers and tax-takers seemed to enjoy each other’s trust. On July 22, it was reported in the newspapers that the director of excise and taxation Karachi had collected Rs43,071,077 as taxes during 1964-65, whereas the total collection in 1963-64 was Rs36,070,758. And today?

Today, we hear a lot about motorways and highways. Well, the province of Sindh, too, has always been cognizant of the importance of road links. On July 24, Mohammad Khan Junejo, the West Pakistan minister for works and communications, paid a visit to Malir Bridge on the Karachi-Peshawar National Highway near Landhi. The bridge was constructed at a cost of Rs50 lakh. Was the money well-spent? It is anybody’s guess.

Published in Dawn, July 18th, 2015

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