KARACHI: Begum Nusrat Bhutto, First Lady of Pakistan … met a cross-section of ladies at a garden party given by her at the Sind Governor’s House in Karachi. Among the 300 guests were nurses, teachers, students, Radio and Television artists and social workers from Lyari along with the prominent Begums of the City. ... Begum Nusrat Bhutto, wearing a red and blue gharara, personally received all her guests and later mixed with them chatting with everyone present. Begum Bhutto ... posed for several photographs with the delighted women. — News agencies

[Meanwhile, as reported by news agencies from Peking,] almost the entire top Chinese leadership today [Dec 29] headed a rally by 10,000 people to protest against the intensified American bombing of North Vietnam and reaffirm Chinese support for Hanoi’s stand in the Paris peace talks.

Madam Nguyen Thi Binh, the Viet-Cong’s chief negotiator at the Paris peace talks, was guest of honour at the rally, which lasted 75 minutes in the enormous auditorium of the Great Hall of the People. She has been given a heroine’s welcome... . Madame Binh sat on the stage flanked by Premier Chou En-lai and Chairman Mao Tse-tung’s wife, Chiang Ching.

Published in Dawn, December 30th, 2022