THOSE were tricky times. A movement of sorts for decentralisation of Karachi’s municipal administration was gaining momentum, but not without facing stiff resistance. Demands such as a separate municipality for Nazimabad had already been documented.

On Nov 8, 1969, Mahmudul Haq Usmani, secretary general of the National Awami Party, strongly supported the move for the decentralisation of municipal administration in the city.

In a statement, he said while the government was considering the decentralisation of administration up to tehsil level in West Pakistan, there was no reason why the same principle could not be applied to Karachi. The decentralised administration, he pointed out, could be a step in the right direction in the realisation of local self-government under which the people of the underdeveloped areas, who had been ‘neglected so far by the Karachi Municipal Corporation’ (KMC), would be able to manage their affairs. Mr Usmani also appealed to the governor of West Pakistan to accept this unanimous demand of the people of Karachi.

But the day before, a special meeting of the chairman and divisional councillors, held by the Jinnahabad Union Committee, Lyari Quarters, unanimously rejected a report on the multiple municipal committees in Karachi. The meeting was presided over by G. M. Nooruddin, KMC councillor, who was also a member of the governing body of the Karachi Development Authority (KDA). The councillors felt that the implementation of the document (which was known as the Ziauddin Report) would create more problems for the city of Karachi having far-reaching consequences. Mr Nooruddin expressed surprise over the suggestion arguing that this experiment should have been done in Lahore and Dacca also which were the capital cities of the two provinces.

On Nov 9, Latif Ibrahim Jamal, president of the RCD Chamber of Commerce and Industry, urged the governor of West Pakistan to let elected representatives of the people decide what type of administration they would like to have for Karachi. He was of the view that the issue had become “so controversial and sensitive it could only be decided by the people of Karachi”. He recalled that sometimes back he had opposed the decentralisation of the city’s municipal administration for he felt it was not in the interest of underdeveloped areas. Since then a big controversy had flared up in which “arguments and counter-arguments and even personal attacks have been resorted to.”

Sounds like a familiar scenario even in 2019!

Amid the hullabaloo, something significant took place reasonably quietly. On Nov 9, McLeod Road was renamed Ismail Ibrahim Chundrigar Road. Mr Chundrigar was the prime minister of Pakistan in 1956. McLeod Road was one of the many thoroughfares and streets that had been recommended by the KMC for renaming.

And then there was Karachi, the tourist-friendly town. On Nov 5, Princess Lamia Abdellah, wife of Moroccan Prince Moulay Abdullah, who arrived in Karachi on Nov 4 on a week-long visit to Pakistan, spent a busy day in the city. She began her round of engagements with a visit to the College of Home Economics, and then proceeded to the All Pakistan Women’s Association Gule Raana Nusrat Industrial Home after which she saw the Adult Blind Centre. In the afternoon Princess Lamia went shopping and visited a number of stores on Elphinstone Street. During her visit to the college, the students enthusiastically crowded around the princess and she had to sign autographs for them.

Published in Dawn, November 4th, 2019