WHOEVER thinks that the word ‘Mohajir’ came into common usage after the MQM emerged as one of Karachi’s formidable political parties in the 1980s, it’s not true. It has been used frequently since the subcontinent’s partition, but, arguably, with stronger political connotations in the late 1960s and early ‘70s.

On April 4, 1972 Dawn published a news item according to which a delegation in a memorandum submitted to President Z A Bhutto appealed to him to officially ban the term ‘Mohajir’ so that social harmony among all sections of the people could be obtained.

The delegation was headed by Begum Majida Siddiqui (chairperson Sir Syed Girls College), Begum Qizilbash and Begum Noor Mazhar. They drew attention of the president towards the plight of non-Bengalis and pro-Pakistanis in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) requesting him for initiating measures to secure their repatriation and early rehabilitation. They also appealed to the president to abolish the quota system, and that the vacancies created after the departure of Bengalis to the eastern wing should be filled mostly with uprooted East Pakistanis, who were jobless in the western part of the country.

It goes to show that all was not well in the province. Tensions were simmering underneath a calm surface. This is the reason that on April 8, before leaving for Islamabad from Karachi to attend a forthcoming National Assembly session, Governor of Sindh Mumtaz Bhutto said that during his stay in the country’s capital he would discuss with the president the law and order situation in Sindh. He made it clear that he’d avoid application of force while dealing with the situation for as long as possible. He, however, added that professional agitators and those who caused disruption, if found guilty, would be handed severe punishment. In that connection, he had already issued strict orders to the law enforcing agents to safeguard the life and property of the citizens in Sindh.

Mr Bhutto was in the news quite a bit that week. A day earlier, on April 7, a four-member delegation of the Government School Teachers Association called on the governor and presented to him an eight-point memorandum for consideration. He directed the group comprising Mrs Amna Ahmad, Mr Shamsuddin, Mr Iqbal Ahmed Khan and Mrs Khairunnissa, to meet the provincial secretary of education for consideration of their demands, which included facilities of learning the Sindhi language for government school teachers. Other demands were full payment during the training period to the in-service teachers and no extension for teachers beyond 56 years of age.

The civic facet of the city, too, did not cut a rosy picture at the time. On April 5, it was reported that the Karachi Development Authority (KDA) ‘might’ suspend its maintenance operation on water supply in the near future due to scarcity of funds. The operation between Dhabeji and the Filter Plant at COD Hills was undertaken by the authority purely on, what it called, a ‘no-profit-no-loss’ basis. As per the budget for 1971-72, a sum of Rs41,188,000 was to be spent on the maintenance of water pipelines but the KDA was believed to have fallen short of funds because it had failed to recover dues from various agencies that purchased water from it in bulk. The Karachi Municipal Corporation (KMC) was the biggest consumer of them all. It bought water worth Rs20 million annually while other constituent buyers paid Rs37,303,000.

Published in Dawn, April 4th, 2022