IT does not happen very often when localities in District Central of Karachi become the media’s focus of attention. Well, 50 years back, it happened on a pretty regular basis. On Oct 26, 1971 this newspaper ran a detailed story according to which, 30 welfare and educational organisations of Federal Area strongly protested against the construction of two cinema houses opposite a girls’ college in Block 1 and 3 of Federal B Area. In a joint memorandum to the governor of Sindh, they said in March 1967, the Karachi administration granted permission for building the two cinema houses in F B Area Scheme No 16. Social groups and educational institutions filed objections to the go-ahead given for the reason that the proposed cinemas would, since there were dozens of schools and colleges in the vicinity, affect the general social environment. Despite that, the authorities gave the permission. The matter was then raised in the West Pakistan Assembly and the speaker assured the residents that the cinema houses would not be allowed to build. However, after a lapse of four years, the administration converted a plot originally meant for a hotel into two pieces of land and accorded authorisation to the construction of the cinemas. The work in that direction was going on, although the governor of Sindh had in a press statement said it would not progress until all views were heard and a proper inquiry was held.

The same neighbourhood was in the news on Oct 29 when 21 residents of Ruqia Square, a building situated on Shahrah-i-Pakistan in F B Area, sent a signed petition to the Karachi Development Authority (KDA) seeking its help in removing unauthorised garages and illegal commercialisation of the residential zone, which had “robbed its peace”. They in their complaint also brought to the notice of the KDA that “shady” people were operating under the cover of motor garages.

From social issues to intellectual pursuits: on Oct 30, Dr J C Burgel, a professor of Oriental Studies at the University of Bern, Switzerland, paid tribute to Muslim scholars of the Islamic Middle Age for their valuable contribution to the field of science. He was speaking on psychosomatic aspects of medical therapy of medieval Islam at Shaam-i-Hamdard at a local hotel.

He discussed at length the illnesses where emotional factors generally produced physical symptoms and the remedies adopted by the famous Muslim scientists. Talking about treatment of melancholia — severe form of depression — he pointed out during the olden days reputed physicians used to play music to evoke joy and spirit among the patients. Dr Burgel, who was a scholar of Arabic and Persian languages, read extracts from the books of Muslim scientists who conducted research on various subjects of vital importance in medicine and other disciplines.

Staying on the subject of reading and writing with a different angle, on Oct 29, it was learnt that 5,000 books worth Rs70,000 were reported to have been missing from the Liaquat Hall Library of the Karachi Municipal Corporation (KMC). A recent audit showed that thousands of books were lost and destroyed every year in municipal libraries and reading rooms in the city.

Published in Dawn, October 25th, 2021