THE year 1971, from Oct 12 to Oct 16, marked the 2,500th anniversary of the Persian Empire or Iranian monarchy. Since Pakistan and Iran had very cordial relations, they still do, Pakistan shared the festive atmosphere with its neighbour. Celebrations came to full swing in Karachi on Oct 11, 1971. With every passing day, the tempo of joyous activities in the city, as in other parts of the country, gained momentum to coincide with the festivities in Iran.

The Karachi Municipal Corporation (KMC) went into action on Oct 11 to decorate the city as its workers were seen putting up flags of Pakistan and Iran at important roundabouts. The buildings that were treated with the same passion and feeling included the Iranian Chancery building and other structures having offices of the Iranian Consulate.

On Oct 12, a special exhibition of Persian manuscripts, art of calligraphy and miniature paintings was inaugurated by the Governor of Sindh, Lt-Gen Rakhman Gul at the National Museum in Burns Gardens. Addressing the visitors, the governor said there could be no better way to celebrate the event then to project the material evidence of our close relationship through an art event. He pointed out that although the history of our cultural links with Iran might be traced back to more than 5,000 years, the period of about 1,000 years under Muslim rule saw the exquisite flowering of this relationship. Persian became the language of Muslim culture and administration in Indo-Pakistan ensuring a freer flow of ideas, books, literature and skills between the two countries, he added.

On Oct 15, about 5,000 students drawn from 50 educational institutions of Karachi put up a spectacular show at the Pakistan Western Railway Stadium in connection with the celebrations. The programme, sponsored by the Directorate of Education Karachi, had items such as march-past and performances of school bands; it lasted for 90 minutes. The students, from tiny tots to high school fellows, drew a great deal of applause from the crowd that had filled the stadium in no time.

In a case of a totally different kind of happy ‘connection’, on Oct 14 the Karachi Development Authority (KDA) announced that residents of New Karachi would get house-to-house water connections. And for that to happen, each applicant would have to pay Rs75 for installation of a tap. The authority hoped that the process would start happening within a week, but there had not been, hitherto, a substantial response from the residents of the area. There were as many as 18,000 quarters in the 12 sectors of North Karachi which were being supplied water through community taps.

From links to delinking: on Oct 15, the Radio Pakistan authorities said they had banned the staff of Karachi Television Centre (KTV) from entering the radio station premises. They also prohibited the staff artists of Radio Pakistan from taking part in TV programmes. This was done in condemnation of, and protest against, KTV which on Oct 12 telecast a programme titled Sach Aur Jhoot, for “slighting” Radio Pakistan as a mass media. They believed that KTV made a deliberate attempt to portray Radio Pakistan in the most “indecent and ridiculing manner”.

Published in Dawn, October 11th, 2021