THE week got off to a rhythmic start for art lovers in Karachi — as was reported on Feb 17, 1975 by the media — when a 20-member team representing the Republican Puppet Theater of Uzbekistan (USSR) gave a nice display of modern techniques in presenting traditional and folk stories at the Arts Council. The highlight of the 90-minute show was the Urdu rendering of the tales in verse by the Uzbek artists. One of their remarkable acts was the presentation of the heroic romantic fairy tale Simurgh. It is about the exploits of a young shepherd boy who with the assistance of his friends, including Simurgh — the bird of happiness — defeats the forces of evil and brings back light, prosperity and liberty to his people. The chief guest on the inaugural day (Feb 16) of the performance, which was on for two days, was Provincial Education Minister Pyarali Allana. Speaking on the occasion, he said frequent exchange of visits between the artists of the two countries would promote friendly relations between the Soviet Union and Pakistan. N Zlobina, the visiting group’s manager, recalled Prime Minister of Pakistan Z A Bhutto’s visit to the USSR (in 1972) which had laid the foundation for further development of brotherly relations between peoples of the two countries.

The venue where the puppet show took place in the city hogged the headlines again on Feb 22 because of the announcement that the renovated Arts Council building would be handed over to the organising committee of the international seminar on ‘Sindh through the Centuries’ in a week’s time for them to hold the event and an exhibition of arts, crafts and relics from the beginning of March. For the purpose, the entire building was being cleaned and given a new color wash. The classes had been suspended as classroom were to be used for display of relics.

Staying on the subject of arts and letters, on Feb 17, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Karachi (KU), Dr Mahmud Husain, said Allama Iqbal’s thoughts provided a permanent basis for the future of Pakistan, its culture and society. Launching the Iqbal Number of the magazine Saghar he pointed out that the poet devoted a lifetime to a deep study of Islam; it’s essential that his ideas were widely propagated.

From the vice-chancellor of a university to the principal of a college. On Feb 18, Karachi’s college teachers observed Black Day to protest against the killing of Dr Shabih Haider Rizvi, Principal of the Government College Larkana earlier in the month. Apart from offering the fateha, they boycotted classes, hoisted black flags, wore black armbands, held condolence meetings and passed a resolution on the call of the West Pakistan College Teachers Association and the Principals’ Association Karachi. The resolution paid tribute to the late Dr Rizvi for his meritorious services and demanded inquiry into the tragedy through a High Court judge.

Adding to the list of unfortunate incidents, on the night of Feb20-Feb21 the pindal set up on the Karachi University Campus to celebrate Students Week under the auspices of the Karachi University Students Union was set ablaze by unknown persons. Shafiq Naqi Jami, the president of the union, claimed that the cost of damage was more than Rs100,000.

Published in Dawn, February 17th, 2025