IT was a week filled with assorted news items mostly related to the countries that have had a good relationship with Pakistan — and Karachi, being culturally vibrant and the demographically largest city of the country, has always played a significant role in bolstering ties with friendly nations. For example, on Oct 6, 1971, firm Chinese support was pledged to Pakistan by Miao Chiu-jui, the Consul-General of China in the city. He said that while speaking at the opening of a six-day photo exhibition of the achievements of China organised by the Pak-China Friendship Society at the Arts Council. The CG added China would forever remain a reliable friend of Pakistan in her just struggle against imperialists and expansionists.

The photographic show projected the giant strides made by the Asian giant in the fields of industry and agriculture. Beautiful images under various heads highlighted the different sectors, and the progress made by China in recent years. There was also a special portfolio of colour photographs of Chairman Mao Tse Tung.

A couple of days later, another friendly nation made the headlines. On Oct 8, Orhan Tureli, the Turkish Consul-General distributed certificates and gave away prizes to successful students of modern Turkish language classes. The course had been regularly held by the Pakistan-Turkish Association since 1964. Addressing the young ones, the consul-general expressed his satisfaction at the relations between Pakistan and Turkey, which he believed were growing steadily because the two countries had so many things in common. Indeed, they have.

Unfortunately, another foreigner that week became the talk of the town for all the wrong reasons. On Oct 4, Ferozabad Police booked an Egyptian national and charged him with murder of Mrs Kaniz Fatma, wife of an engineer who was away at the time of her death. The case was registered on a complaint lodged by the brother of the deceased.

It was not just information of geo-political significance that journalists in the Sindh capital were busy disseminating; in those days, the Karachi Press Club (KPC) had arranged a series of lectures on the greatest Urdu poet Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib titled Ghalib Aur Majnun by none other than the renowned scholar and critic Prof Majnun Gorakhpuri. On Oct 8, the third talk of the series was extensively covered by Dawn. Prof Gorakhpuri in his address opined that rightly ranked among the classicists of Urdu literature, Ghalib through his robust and distinct approach to human problems had immortalised himself as a poet to be adored by one and all, and for all times to come. The focus of his third lecture was on the poet’s language and style. He dwelt on his rhythm and musicality, his diction, similes and metaphors, and his altogether individualistic thinking and expression never before known to Urdu poetry. The professor drew copiously on western poetry and art using illustrative quotations from Ghalib’s verses, stressing that his love for beauty was unsurpassed and would perhaps remains so for centuries to come. Popular singer Iqbal Bano, who was in Karachi that week, sang Ghalib’s ghazals on the occasion. He was her favourite poet.

Published in Dawn, October 4th, 2021