THE issue of the nationalisation of educational institutions had assumed proportions that the authorities had not imagined when they first introduced it. There were constant reports in which the government tried to justify it but implementing it was not proving to be an easy task.

On Sept 29, 1972 speaking at a seminar held at the Sindh Secretariat of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) in Karachi, the Provincial Minister for Education Dur Mohammad Usto said a new university ordinance would be promulgated within the next three days. The ordinance, among other things, was to give representation to students in the management of university affairs. He claimed after the nationalisation of 79 colleges in Sindh, 40,000 students had benefitted whereas over 1,100,000 school students stood to gain from the takeover of private schools. He added that despite doubts expressed by certain people, the government had been able to find sufficient funds to implement the decision for private colleges and schools.

On Oct 1, in a similar vein, Chief Minister of Sindh Mumtaz Ali Bhutto said the doors to nationalised schools would be open to every child in the province assuring that more and better educational institutions would be built in the time to come. At a meeting arranged in connection with the subject of literacy, he remarked: “We will spend more than one-third of our total budget on the welfare of our children.” He appealed to the people to cooperate with the government in building a happier society and brighter future for the coming generation.

The future of children, or of every citizen for that matter, depends a lot on a healthy, clean atmosphere. But the atmosphere is sometimes vitiated by heartless individuals. For instance, on Sept 25, as reported the next day by the media, about 200 seers of contraband marijuana worth Rs2.5m was seized by the intelligence staff of the Provincial Excise Department from a luxury Holland-bound bus. Sources said the marijuana was purchased from Afghanistan and was concealed under the seats of the vehicle. The intelligence personnel, acting on a tip-off, conducted a raid and foiled the smugglers’ plan. They got hold of the bus from the compound of a clearing and forwarding agent on I. I. Chundrigar Road. The bus, valued at more than Rs100,000, was owned by an American who had left Pakistan a few days back.

Staying on the subject of planning, on Sept 30, the director general of the Karachi Development Authority (KDA), Abbas Husain Shah, told a press conference that the much-publicised master plan for the Karachi metropolitan region would now be completed by June 1973 — one and a half years behind schedule.

Once it was ready, a ‘permanent’ Master Plan Department (MPD) was to be set up which would advise the KDA, the Karachi Municipal Corporation (KMC) and other departments on related matters. Mr Shah, who was also the project director of the scheme, claimed that in order to give a legal cover to the MPD’s advisory capacity, two town planning acts — one on a national basis and the other on a provincial basis — were being finalised.

Published in Dawn, September 26th, 2022