DURING the 1965 India-Pakistan war, there were a reasonable number of visitors from the two countries stranded on either side of the border finding it difficult to return to their homelands. It was a full-blown war, disrupting, among other things, the communication and transport lines.

There were five Pakistani journalists at the time who were posted in India. Four of them (Asif Jilani, Mahbub Alam, Khalid Batalvi and Aslam Sheikh), as discussed in one of the previous columns, had returned, after a few political and administrative hiccups, in October. And the fifth, Tony Mascarenhas, took a couple of weeks more to come back to Pakistan.

Mr Mascarenhas, a special correspondent with the Morning News in New Delhi, arrived in Karachi on Nov 1 by Pan Am Airlines. By the way, this is the same airline which refused to allow the other four Pakistani mediamen to board its aircraft because of which they had to take another airline. What changed Pan Am’s stance in the case of Mr Mascarenhas was not reported by the media. It did not matter, though. What mattered was that the correspondent had reached back home unscathed.

Those were the days, as has been established, when the entire Pakistani nation was backing up its armed forces with all its heart and soul, led by the vivacious citizens of Karachi. The Sequeira family had been living in the Sindh capital for a century. On Nov 2, a distinguished member of the family, Mrs Sequeira, donated 17 gold sovereigns, one for each day of the war, with five bales of warm clothing and blankets, to the National Defence Fund. The donation was announced at a meeting of the All Pakistan Women’s Association. In a letter to Lady Abdullah Haroon, Mrs Sequeira wrote: “We pay tribute to the unparalleled gallantry and heroism of our armed forces so ably commanded by the three services chiefs under the leadership of President Field Marshal Ayub Khan.”

As expected, it was the Kashmiris who bore the brunt of the conflict most. Many lost their lives. On Nov 5, the Karachi Council for Child Welfare (KCCW) asked those who wished to adopt orphans from India-held Kashmir to apply by filling out the prescribed forms. In a press statement the president of the KCCW, Begum Akhtar Sulaiman, said the council would first make sure about the bona fides and integrity of individuals before entrusting them with the children.

Speaking of Kashmir, on Nov 7, a four-member delegation of the Pakistan Writers Guild left the city to visit the various war fronts in West Pakistan and Kashmir borders. The delegation was led by Syed Anwar, secretary of the Pakistan Writers Guild, Karachi.

However, it was not the only guild which made the headlines that week. On Nov 7, this newspaper ran a story according to which a well-attended meeting held at Eastern Film Studios of the people connected with the film industry unanimously decided to form an association under the name of Film Guild for the benefit and welfare of all those working in different departments of the industry.

The following office-bearers were elected: Saeed A. Haroon (patron), Niaz Malik (chairman), T. H. Rizvi and Iqbal Butt (vice chairmen), film star Kamal (general secretary) and A. H. Siddiqui (secretary). The following were the members of the executive committee: Waheed Murad, Hanif, Nazir Sufi, Irshad Ali, Iqbal Akhtar, Iqbal Husain, Mandody, Nashad, Iqbal Rizvi and Sattar Shaikhani.

Published in Dawn, November 2nd, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play