KARACHI’S traffic woes are directly related to the rapid increase in its population. This means, it’s a pretty old problem that, to date, gives the authorities concerned a lot to think about. On Oct 20, 1976, an official handout published in this newspaper said 52 persons were killed in road accidents and 135 sustained injuries in the city during the past month. Two days later, on Oct 22, the deputy director general of police and crimes control, Obaidur Rahman, moved the Regional Transport Authority (RTA) to reassess the city’s transport needs to limit the growth of minibuses because they had been causing serious traffic problems. Afterwards, in an interview, Mr Rahman told Dawn that minibuses were contributing largely to the rising number of accidents and pollution from auto-exhaust. Their drivers had also shown utter disregard for all traffic laws and regulations. Mr Rahman pointed out that the alarming rise in the number of vehicular traffic in Karachi was a major concern for traffic law enforcing agencies. He listed auto-rickshaws and minibuses as the main violators of traffic rules. There were, at the time, 1,375 minibuses on the roads in the Sindh capital.
The other issue facing citizens which the media highlighted that week had to do with food. On Oct 21, a survey revealed that some of the ration shops in Karachi were selling bad quality atta, almost unfit for human consumption. At certain places, the supplied atta was found to be infested with worms and gave off a terrible smell. Ration shop owners said some of the old stocks of wheat that got damaged in recent rains were being used by some of the mills. Interestingly, the federal minister of state for agrarian management, Chaudhry Mumtaz Ahmad, while visiting Karachi a month back, had told those working for the mills “not to grind bad quality wheat, particularly the one which was not fit for human consumption”, claiming that “sufficient quantity of good quality wheat was available”.
Given the above-mentioned issues, it seemed appropriate that on Oct 24, prominent leaders of the Pakistan movement made a fervent appeal to the people to work for the prosperity and glory of the country. They were speaking at a symposium held in connection with the Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah’s centenary celebrations. The speakers included Husain Imam, M A Khuhro, Maulana Jamal Mian Farangi Mahalli, Dr I H Quraishi and Justice (retired) Qadeeruddin Ahmed. A K Sumar, Iqbal Azeem and Rehman Kiyani recited poems on the occasion. Mr Imam, who jointly presided over the event with Mr Khuhro, said it was the objective of the leadership of the Pakistan movement to accommodate all the Muslims of pre-partition India in the new Muslim land.
As far as the artistic side of Karachi life went, on Oct 18, an exhibition of photographs by Abdul Sajid Khan was opened at the Arts Council by eminent scholar G Allana. The photographer had put on display more than four dozen portraits in black and white of painters and sculptors. For example, according to one review, Mr Khan had admirably captured the personalities of famous artists Shakir Ali and Sajjad Hussain.
Published in Dawn, October 19th, 2026
