DESPITE their up-and-down nature, Pak-US ties have always hogged the media limelight. On Jan 22, 1973, as was reported the next day, US Consul-General in Karachi at the time Gordon Tiger said that trade promotion efforts were one of the sound methods of a cooperative relationship which would further cement the friendship, already in a happy state, between Pakistan and the US. His comment came while inaugurating an exhibition of catalogues at the American Centre describing the wide variety of American-made valves and compressors.

The purpose of the display titled Energy in Motion participated by 300 companies from the US was to make available to Pakistani agriculturists, manufacturers, importers and municipal and government officials detailed information on equipment made in America for moving and regulating the flow of fluids and gases.

This was the situation of international relations. But on the domestic front, things looked a little shaky. On Jan 23, talking to journalists in Karachi, Nawab Mohammad Akbar Khan Bugti said the imposition of President’s rule in Balochistan would be a ‘welcome step’. Replying to a question, he emphasised that he was neither proposing nor demanding the dissolution of the Balochistan government. He charged that the availability of (illegal) arms in the province was officially organised by, and for the benefit of, the provincial government for a definite purpose. It was not possible to detect the culprits while Governor Ghaus Bakhsh Bizenjo and his colleagues were in power. He wondered how Central Interior Minister Khan Qayyum Khan could expect the government to cooperate in checking the in flow of illegal arms.

And on Jan 27, another leader from Balochistan, who was also in the Sindh capital, gave a statement in that context. Addressing a press conference, Khan Abdul Samad Khan Achakzai, the Balochistan NAP president and a member of the provincial assembly, remarked if he were in place of Governor Bizenjo, he would have signed to facilitate the inquiry into Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti’s charge about smuggling of foreign arms into the province.

The vision of the political leadership was not the only thing being questioned in those days. On Jan 26, a study published in this newspaper claimed that the incidence of ametropia — defective sight due to imperfect refractive power — among Karachi’s schoolchildren had increased considerably in the last few years. Experts who had been looking into the problem ascertained that at least 23 per cent of the children in the city were suffering from the disease and in a few cases, they feared, it might lead to blindness. The figures were revealed after a survey was conducted by the Mobile Eye Service of Pakistan in which they examined 4,000 students belonging to different schools. They attributed the issue to the carelessness of parents about the hygiene of their kids.

One more significant development that took place at an educational institution that week was on Jan 24 when the additional education secretary of the province, Dr Nabi Bakhsh Qazi inaugurated Sindhi classes at the University of Karachi (KU). Speaking on the occasion, he highlighted that the Sindhi language was rich in literary traditions and would help promote friendship among all sections of the people in Sindh.

Published in Dawn, January 23th, 2023