KARACHI: As the newly elected mayor of Karachi, Murtaza Wahab, took oath of office on Monday, one thought of the man holding the same post when Pakistan had just come into being. Who was he? Answer: Mohammad Ahson.

What was Karachi like in those days? Obviously, the first thing that springs to mind is: it was less populated, which implies that it must have been a spick and span town with no issues that could affect one’s health. Well, that doesn’t seem to be the case.

On Feb 18, 1948, the Mayor of Karachi, Mohammad Ahson held a press conference to announce the ‘cleaner Karachi campaign’, which was to be shortly launched by the Karachi City Corporation. What the mayor talked about at that presser is an interesting subject to study in order to realise that some of the problems that the city faces today, in 2023, are basically just as old… as Pakistan.

Mr Ahson said Karachi was once known as the cleanest city in the Indian subcontinent. It was no longer so because of a ‘large influx of refugees’ and other people. Overcrowding and unrestricted flow of people in the city were the chief causes of deterioration in sanitary conditions.

He claimed the corporation gave all possible facilities to the refugees to help them earn their livelihood but now a stage had been reached when unless a prompt action was taken the health of the entire city would be threatened. It was feared that if the present sanitary conditions were allowed to continue, there ‘might be an outbreak of epidemics during the coming hot season’.

The mayor appealed for cooperation of all public organisations, including the Muslim National Guard, to educate the citizens of Karachi to maintain a high standard of sanitation. The first part of the cleaner Karachi campaign would be to [build] public opinion against insanitation. The minister of local self-government, councillors, health officers and other public health officers would visit various parts of the town to make personal appeals to citizens to keep Karachi clean. Public lectures with the help of magic lanterns [image projectors] and short films would be held, and posters on health and sanitation would also be issued.

This was the content of the Mayor of Karachi’s press conference 75 years ago. What’s in it that has not lingered with the passage of time? One more thing: Mohammad Ahson was the son of Hakeem Fateh Mohammad Sehwani, an eminent scholar and poet from Sehwan.

Published in Dawn, June 20th, 2023