KARACHI: John Permal, who used to sprint from his home in Saddar to St Patrick’s School six years ago, yesterday [Feb 27] became the fastest human in Pakistan when he won the 100 metres at the National Games which concluded at the Hockey Club of Pakistan yesterday afternoon.

Permal’s meteoric rise brought him the school sprinting championship first, the Karachi championship and finally the Pakistan championship. And yet it is an irony of fate that Permal, who blossomed into an international sprinter on the streets of Karachi, had to wear the colours of Pakistan Western Railway, which he represented in these Games.

Permal nosed out Peshawar sprinter Iqbal Shinwari in a breath-taking finish in 10.9 seconds and got a standing applause from a modest crowd, which included Vice-Admiral Muzaffar Husain, Commander-in-Chief of the Pakistan Navy.

[Meanwhile, as reported by an agency in Islamabad,] Pakistan today [Feb 27] noted with regret yet another illegal act by the racist Ian Smith regime to turn “Rhodesia” into a republic on Monday next. When the attention of a Foreign Office spokesman was drawn to the announcement from Salisbury, he said, “This is another step to perpetuate the white minority rule over the indigenous people.”

Published in Dawn, February 28th, 2020