ON July 27, 1976, the Karachi Municipal Corporation (KMC) made an appeal to citizens to refrain from dumping garbage into drains and nullahs, provide proper cover to water receptacles and tanks, and connect cesspools with drainage lines to effectively check mosquito breeding in the city. Anticipating an ‘enormous increase in mosquito population’ following monsoon rains and accumulation of rainwater, the corporation had decided to take action within its limited resources to handle the problem.
Not just that, the next day, on July 28, the KMC warned unauthorised occupants and encroachers on roads, footpaths and open spaces, and those who kept animals, to vacate all such places immediately or face forced ejection. In the previous week, the corporation had removed 377 obstructions and encroachments, impounded 35 stray animals and seized all those goods that had caused encroachment. On July 30, the KMC’s land department with the help of the police had cleared Newnham Road, Saleh Mohammad Street, Rampart Road, Tonga Stand and Boulton Market of all kinds of obstructions.
As far as the ever vibrant cultural side of city life was concerned, on July 29, an exhibition of paintings, graphics and sculptures by artists from Sindh was inaugurated at the Arts Council by the Provincial Minister for Information, Mir Hazar Khan Bijarani. In all, 87 paintings, 13 pieces of graphic art and 26 sculptures made by 50 artists were on display. Some paintings were to be sent later to Islamabad as the province’s entry for the second annual exhibition and competition of paintings, graphics, sculptures and ceramics sponsored by the Pakistan National Council of the Arts (PNCA). The painters and sculptors who took part in the show at the Arts Council included some renowned names such as Shahid Sajjad, Rabia Zuberi, Maqsood Ali, Naz Ikramullah and Eqbal Mehdi. Speaking on the occasion, Mr Bijarani praised the artists for enriching cultural heritage of Sindh and the country. He claimed he had persuaded Chief Minister Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi to institute prizes for the artist community to incentivise their creative pursuits.
And on July 30, a one-act play titled Aadhi Baat was staged at Adamjee auditorium by a group called New Theatres. Written by Bano Qudsia and directed by Kamal Ahmed Rizvi, the drama revolves around a cynical retired headmaster at a government school who recalls the days when he used to work under British officials for whom discipline was sacred. Much like the way he treats his family — comprising his wife, son and daughter — he tries to enforce the same discipline in his school. The wife, during the course of the play, feels unwanted in the scheme of things and children become wary of their parents’ suspicion of their characters. In the end, the headmaster realises his failure as head of the family and joins a private school. Rizvi played the male protagonist in Aadhi Baat, and the rest of the cast was: Atiya Sharaf (headmaster’s wife), Khalida Riasat (his daughter) and Akbar Subhani (his son). A critic writing for this newspaper liked the performance of Saqib Sheikh for playing the role of a teacher who gets teased by the headmaster’s daughter.
Published in Dawn, July 27th, 2026
