THE language bill passed by the Sindh Assembly on July 7, 1972 sparked off riots in Karachi and Hyderabad. On July 10, the authorities imposed curfew in the affected areas of the Sindh capital. On July 10, as reported by the media on July 11, the Chief Minister of Sindh, Mumtaz Ali Bhutto, issued a statement after a two-hour round of various neighbourhoods of the city during which he was accompanied by the provincial chief secretary and inspector general of police. The chief minister said he was shocked and grieved to see the state of a happy and prosperous city. “All the destruction becomes even more shocking when it is realised that there was absolutely no cause for it. There’s still time to consider the causes of dissatisfaction with a cool and composed mind. This nation was not created that it may become a battleground for Muslim brothers over purely imaginary grievances.”
On July 12, the district magistrate Karachi issued a press note in connection with the previous day’s situation: “Defiance of curfew restrictions in two parts of the city had to be checked by firing. One person in Drigh Colony was injured when a crowd refused to submit to the restrictions in spite of warning. The second violation was in Bohra Pir, Ranchore Lines where another person was injured, too, by firing. In the afternoon, when curfew was withdrawn for two hours, a group of urchins set on fire a night club on Frere Road. They were driven away by firing volley shots in the air. The minor blaze was quickly extinguished. A number of persons were picked up for disregarding the curfew order.”
The next day’s note (July 13) from the magistrate about the July 12 situation claimed that the city and its suburbs were quiet and peaceful throughout the curfew period. The relaxation phase was extended to four hours in the afternoon. During that time, a PIA bus which was in Drigh Colony to pick up employees of the airlines was set afire by some miscreants.
On July 13, two isolated incidents took place in Liaquatabad when a man was stabbed by an unknown person and a second man was injured by a bullet fired from a moving truck. The culprits escaped and the injured were sent to hospital.
On July 14, some roving groups tried to create confusion in Nazimabad, Liaquatabad and Golimar by placing obstacles on the roads and throwing stones at vehicles.
On July 15, in a 34-minute nationwide broadcast on Radio Pakistan, the President of Pakistan, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, announced the formula agreed upon by the representatives of the old and new Sindhis to resolve the language controversy in the province of Sindh.
As per details, the language bill, passed by the Sindh Assembly on July 7, would be assented to by the governor and at the same time an ordinance would be promulgated so that the status of Urdu was not ‘prejudiced’. He added the ordinance would also provide that for 12 years no discrimination would be made in the matter of appointment, promotion and continuation of services in Sindh on the grounds that one did not know Sindhi or Urdu.
Published in Dawn, July 10th, 2022
