IT was a strange time for the journalist community. If on the one hand, the government was putting pressure on the media for not toeing its line — editors of Dawn and Jasarat in particular were going through a tough time — on the other hand, things were looking up a bit in terms of media unity. On March 19, 1973, as reported in this newspaper on March 20, First Lady of Pakistan Begum Nusrat Bhutto asked journalists to establish their own papers in every nook and corner of the country. She expressed these views while launching the first issue of a weekly called Awami Adalat edited by Ibrahim Jalees at a local hotel. She opined journalists must work hard and if they took full control of journalism, it could again become a mission rather than an industry. Ms Bhutto said the past governments were not representative of the people and considered themselves above criticism; the same had become the case with the press. She added the media should be free from all such evils.

On March 25, a joint action committee consisting of representatives of various organisations of the press in Karachi was formed to wage a struggle to solve the problems facing the industry. It was done at a gathering of office-bearers and members of the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists, the Karachi Union of Journalists, the Karachi Press (Newspapers) Workers Federation, the Amil Sahafi Khushnavees Union, the APP Employees Union and the Employees Union of Jang, Sun and Mashriq.

The media, by the way, as its foremost duty, was busy reporting on not just the goings-on related to its own hardships but also the difficulties faced by the public. For example, on March 22, an armed gang burgled as many as seven shops in Gol Market, Nazimabad in the small hours and got away with cash worth Rs10,000. The next day the shops remained closed as a protest against the police’s failure to protect the shopkeepers.

While all of this was unfolding, a meeting — chaired by Jam Sadiq Ali, the Minister for Local Bodies — of officials of the Karachi Development Authority (KDA), the Karachi Municipal Corporation (KMC), the Landhi-Korangi Municipal Corporation (L-KMC) and the local government was arranged to implement the directives issued by President of Pakistan Z A Bhutto on the city’s development schemes. The minister said that the president had asked for more parks, recreations facilities and playgrounds in Karachi. Jam Sadiq Ali ordered that a ‘make Karachi greener’ campaign should be launched immediately by the KDA, KMC and the L-KMC.

Of course, this was being done because Karachi was, and still is, a town frequently visited by foreigners. On March 25, the President of Cameroon, Ahmadou Ahidjo passed through the Sindh capital en route to China. On arrival at Karachi airport, he was welcomed by Provincial Minister for Revenue, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Syed Qaim Ali Shah.

In a different scenario, the same day, Syed Qaim Ali Shah categorically denied a news item appearing in a section of the press alleging that the new Sindhis were being ignored in granting government land. He claimed it was absolutely wrong that those allottees settled in the province under different schemes were deprived of their pieces of land, except in a few cases where they had failed to pay instalments.

Published in Dawn, March 21st, 2023