THE demand for more municipalities in the city was being met with fierce opposition.

On Nov 18, 1969 four members of the Karachi Divisional Council urged the governor of West Pakistan, Air Marshal M. Nur Khan, and the Karachi administration to “frustrate the evil designs of old politicians in creating more municipalities” for Karachi which, according to them, would seriously affect the progress of undeveloped areas such as Lyari.

The councillors in a joint statement stressed that the creation of more municipalities would bring an end to development work going on with the active support of the union committee chairman of Lyari. The signatories to the statement –– Abdul Majeed Mandhi, Hajji Ghulam Mohammad, Bashir Ahmad Khan and Abdul Majeed Brohi –– believed suspension of projects at Lyari was the main objective of the politicians who were also responsible for the appointment of the Ziauddin Committee (that had recommended more municipalities).

Speaking of development work, a couple of days earlier, the provincial government enhanced powers of chairman of the Karachi Municipal Corporation (KMC) in respect of expenditures to avoid delays in execution of projects carried out for the public. Previously, the KMC chief executive was allowed to sanction development schemes costing Rs50,000 which was later cut down to Rs20,000. As per the latest orders, the chairman was allowed to sanction schemes involving an expenditure of Rs100,000. For the amount beyond that he had to seek permission of the city commissioner.

And what was the commissioner doing all this while? On Nov 17, Masud Nabi Nur (commissioner) paid surprise visits to different parts of the city to inspect the enumeration of voters for the forthcoming general election. He was accompanied by the deputy regional election commissioner, Zafarul Hasan, and the director of basic democracies, Abdul Hai. During door-to-door inspection at Pir Illahi Bux Colony, he expressed satisfaction at how things were shaping up. At Liaquatabad and a new settlement of about 2,000 families far from New Karachi, he was informed that the voters’ forms had yet to be collected by the enumerators.

This may have been a small concern, but there were more significant issues related to the polls to be dealt with by the authorities. It was reported on Nov 18 that a meeting of Sindhi students held at Dow Medical College’s canteen threatened with a hunger strike and boycott of the general election “if the government did not accept their demand for providing voters’ lists in the Sindhi language within one week.”

Things were not just heating up in the political arena; on the administrative front, too, they kept the newsmen on alert. On Nov 19, the Karachi Development Authority (KDA) asked the KMC to pay it up to four per cent of all the taxes collected by the corporation in the city. It did that on the plea that the KDA had carried out many civic schemes in various residential areas out of its own funds. Now when the KMC was collecting various taxes the KDA was justified in seeking the four per cent of the collection.

Ironically, the weather in Karachi that week, it seemed, was trying to bring the temperature down on the ground. On Nov 21, the percentage of humidity in the air dipped slightly and the wind became a bit colder. For the first time in the month, people were seen in their woolen garments and walking in the sun for them did not prove to be unpleasant. The temperature at night was 56 degrees Fahrenheit – three degrees less than on Nov 20.

Published in Dawn, November 18th, 2019