IT was a week mostly marked by the spiritual dimension in life. On Oct 24, 1972, this newspaper published a statement issued by philanthropist and scholar Hakim Mohammad Saeed in which he appealed [to the government] that Pakistan’s Independence Day should be celebrated on the 27th of the holy month of Ramazan.

It read: “I would like to remind the nation that we, the Muslims of the subcontinent, had solemnly made a promise with Allah that after our independence and establishment of Pakistan we will adopt an Islamic way of life, will spend our lives according to the tenets of the Holy Quran and Sunnah, hence Allah granted us independence during the day of 26th and the night of 27th Ramazan, 1366.”

In a similar spirit, on Oct 27, an exhibition of distinguished artist Sadequain’s calligraphic works opened at the Arts Council. Since it was an annual feature during Ramazan, the artist went on with the show despite his recent illness. He chose Sura-i-Fateha, Sura-i-Yaseen and Bismillah for his innovative calligraphy and did not use any colours.

According to a critic, the simple approach had largely been compensated by the sheer size of the verses. Sadequain had departed from the traditional rules of the art form justifying it by well-reasoned rubai’yat of his own in Urdu, which had also been displayed outside the main exhibition hall.

On the occasion, the artist said fine arts had always been influenced by the socioeconomic conditions. Similarly, calligraphy had undergone changes of style. He was of the opinion that ‘unconsciously’ he had adopted the style of collectivisation of retaining the individuality of each word — he had written several words in lesser space. It expressed the spirit of collectivisation.

The same day, as reported on Oct 28, the New Haji Camp was bursting at the seams with overcrowding and absence of proper facilities for the pilgrims before they left for Haj by Safina-i-Hujjaj. The breakdown of the shipping schedule had caused great inconvenience to those arriving from upcountry who found themselves stranded. The camp had a capacity to accommodate 3,000 Hajis but there were 4,500 of them around the camp. Those without rooms had camped in and outside the premises. There was also no proper arrangement for making inquiries about the movement of travel papers. The scheduling was made in such a way that two ships were due to leave within a period of 16 hours on Oct 26 and Oct 27. It created problems for the pilgrims as well as for officials.

That was not the only disturbing piece of information related to the sea that week.

On Oct 26, a young unidentified girl committed suicide by jumping off Native Jetty Bridge and drowning in the sea in broad daylight. At 1pm, the girl in a silken dress was seen walking along the bridge. Suddenly, she took off her slippers and jumped into the sea. The passers-by who saw her do that shouted and within 15 minutes two fishermen dived into the water to save her life. They did manage to bring her ashore after five minutes. She was rushed to the Civil Hospital but died before she could be provided with medical help.

Published in Dawn, October 24th, 2022