ONE would have thought that the disruption of water supply on Jan 14 to Jan 15, 1970 by the Karachi Development Authority to facilitate the second phase of the construction process of the Bulk Water Supply Scheme for Karachi would end after 24 hours; but that didn’t prove to be the case. It lasted longer than expected. On Jan 20, the media reported that the effects of the one-day closure of supply were still haunting the residents of several parts of the city. Among the localities from which the most number of complaints were received were Baldia Colony and adjoining areas, the higher altitude areas of North Nazimabad’s half a dozen blocks, the thickly populated areas of Dastgir and Azizabad, and Block 6 of PECHS.

One doesn’t know whether the supply affected the neighbourhoods where night clubs were situated in Karachi. Yes, in case anyone’s wondering about them, there were quite a few in the city till the better part of the early 1970s. Of course, there were people back then, as there are now, who didn’t like their presence. On Jan 22, four slogan-raising men were hauled up in front of a night club on Kutchery Road. The police said they were chanting slogans against nudity in the clubs demanding their closure. They were arrested on charge of causing a ‘breach of the peace’.

Speaking of breaches, it is difficult to see a cracked wall erected by an artist. On Jan 23, an exhibition of artworks titled The Wall by a gifted East Pakistani painter, Murtaza Bashir, opened at the Arts Council. Critics loved it. One of them opined: “When Murtaza looks at a wall, he contemplates the impossibility of communication between individuals. He has painted the wall to convey this feeling. All 39 of his canvases are variations on this theme. A wall is a physical barrier but the artist has extended its symbolism to find every person perennially surrounded with walls, confined within his cell. But his exhibition is more interesting for what he has done with his colours and for the intense compositional effects he has achieved. His canvases give us a great pleasure. His current series is a departure from his earlier and more familiar composition.” Bashir, who had held his previous one-man show in Karachi in 1963, was a semi-figurative painter in the cubist expressionist style.

From one form of expression to another: language. On Jan 25, the Karachi Region of the Pakistan Writers’ Guild at its general body meeting at the guild’s office passed several resolutions concerning the safeguard and promotion of the legitimate interests of Pakistani writers, authors and men of letters. The meeting, which preceded the general election of the Karachi region, unanimously adopted a resolution condemning the action taken by the local administration in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) against one Bangla novel and four other books (doesn’t that ring a bell!). The general body also adopted unanimously the demand for the Gujarati language to be declared as one of the regional languages of Pakistan since it’s spoken, read and written by a large number of people in Karachi in particular and throughout Pakistan in general. Another resolution adopted that the Baluchi language should be allowed representation on the Central Committee of the guild and its constitution should duly be amended to put Baluchi on a par with Sindhi, Pashto and Punjabi languages. The event was presided over by poet Jamiluddin Aali, secretary general of the Pakistan Writers Guild, at which the region’s new executive committee for two years was also elected.

Published in Dawn, January 20th, 2020