KARACHIITES enjoy the month of December because Karachi is a town which most of the time in a year oscillates between extremely and moderately hot — December heralds the arrival of winter. On Dec 12, 1972 a report claimed that the incursion of dry continental air caused by western disturbances which began the day before continued in the city. The minimum temperature recorded by the Met office on Dec 11 was 49degrees F (9.4 degrees centigrade).

The coldness was not just a matter confined to weather conditions. On the political front things, too, were not warm in one of the provinces of the country where those at the helm were not on cordial terms with a group of people and its leader.

On Dec 13, Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti, chief of the Bugti tribe in Balochistan, said in Karachi that he had come back to Pakistan [from London] with an open mind with no formula to resolve the differences between the Balochistan government and the Bugti tribe. According to him, he was not aware of all the facts and was still making contacts with various people in his province. He was speaking at a reception given in his honour by the Baloch Students Organisation (Awami group) at the Karachi Municipal Corporation (KMC) Club Hall. He added he was shocked to hear that his house had been surrounded by troops and policemen — he was not expecting that from a government run by the Baloch themselves.

Confrontation seemed to be in the air that week as on Dec 15 at least five students of the Dow Medical College were injured following a clash between two groups on the college premises. It happened when a couple of separate meetings of rival students were in progress. Tension was prevailing in the institutions since Dec 12 when they had fought on the last day of the fete held at the college.

On Dec 16, East Pakistan Day was observed in Karachi with a call to the people by various political leaders and student representatives to strive ceaselessly for the preservation and vindication of the ‘one Pakistan image’. The day was marked with a student-police clash near Guru Mandir when the former tried to stage a public demonstration in violation of Section 144. The parties which separately staged demonstrations in observance of the day included the Jamaat-i-Islami and the Muslim League (United Karachi Zone).

The next day, Dec 17, the Bengali Seamen’s Welfare and Repatriation Committee appealed to the government of Pakistan and the International Red Cross Committee to arrange for their repatriation to Bangladesh. A meeting held in that connection also asked them to provide food to the jobless and stranded seamen.

But not all was gloomy. On Dec 14, the President of Chamber and Commerce and Industry Karachi, Kassam Usman Kandawalla, claimed that industrial production in the city had registered a welcome increase by 20 to 25 per cent. In his view, it was a result of the appropriate measures taken by the provincial government against anti-social elements and the improvement of the labour situation. He pointed out that the labour deserved appreciation for showing a sense of responsibility hoping that with the enforcement of liberal laws the organised labour force would effectively participate in the economic development of the country.

Published in Dawn, December 12th, 2022