THE Karachi Press Club (KPC) does not only have a history of struggle for democracy, it is also known for furthering the importance of entertainment for its members and society at large… with varying degrees of implementation.

On March 8, 1970 a food and funfair held at the KPC provided hours of amusement to hundreds of visitors. The main feature of the event was Turkish, Chinese and Indonesian foods apart from the usual attractions of games of skill, fortunetelling and ‘fashion advice’ (yes, fashion advice, too). Also, by way of variety entertainment, ‘an educated dog’ intrigued onlookers by performing tricks. The Turkish stall was organised by the Turkish Information Office; arrangements were made by the Chinese Consulate to serve lobster, chips and the familiar chicken chilies; and the Indonesia dishes sold on the occasion were godo-godo (salad), fried chicken noodles and fried fish served with egg and chips. Mouthwatering, isn’t it?

Not moving away from the journalist community, on March 12, Dr Gisela, a prominent German writer and journalist, arrived in the city on a three-week tour of Pakistan. The next day she met journalists and writers of the city at the KPC.

Fun or no fun, Karachi is always on the go, and not necessarily for good reasons. On March 9, almost all the outpatient departments and casualty wards of the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) were seen deluged with thousands of patients when about 100 house staff doctors went on a 24-hour token strike. The strike left 3,000 patients at OPDs to wait for longer hours while an emergency cover was provided to the serious cases by the senior doctors of the JPMC. The strikers included about 60 paid staff of the hospital and 40 honorary house staff. The worst affected were the patients at the surgical and medical OPDs who could not be attended to properly as one senior doctor had to do the job usually undertaken by at least five (doctors). To cope with the situation, the hospital authorities deputed senior members in all the departments; still their strength, as per a news item, was inadequate.

There was another strike that week. On March 13, 10 cinema houses of the city that ran English movies were shut down, reportedly, for a week in protest against what their owners called the “apathetic policies of the Ministry of Information and against non-availability of English films.” The cinema houses were: Palace, Rex, Rio, Bambino, Scala, Godeon, Lyric, Capri, Capital and Paradise.

What were the Karachi Development Authority (KDA) and the Karachi Municipal Corporation (KMC) up to at the time? Well, on March 9, it was announced that the provincial government had authorised the KDA to establish an Enforcement Cell under the charge of a senior police officer of the rank of superintendent of police. The cell would come into existence with immediate effect having a total strength of 26 officers — one inspector, three sub-inspectors, three assistant sub-inspectors, five head constables and 14 constables. The first head of the new department assumed charge of the new post on March 9.

As for the KMC: on March 14 Hoshang H. Broacha was elected member of the corporation representing special interests against the seat vacated by Ram Mohtani.

Published in Dawn, March 9th, 2020