THE flood situation that had affected parts of Sindh and Punjab still needed a great deal of attention. On Sept 10, 1973, as reported on Sept 11 in this newspaper, the Chief Minister of Sindh, Mumtaz Ali Bhutto said the provincial government was working on an elaborate programme to rehabilitate flood-affected people. In an interview at Karachi airport before leaving for Islamabad, he hoped that the plan would mitigate the grief and damage suffered by the people in Sindh to a large extent. Replying to a question, the chief minister commented the rehabilitation scheme, which was ‘very large and costly’, would be completed in the near future.

On Sept 15, a French Air Force plane carrying 390 and 10 containers of baby food and medicines, respectively, donated by the France Red Cross, arrived in Karachi. The consignment was delivered to the Pakistan Red Cross Headquarters. A Russian aircraft also brought 391 packages of medicines donated by the Soviet Red Cross Society, Moscow. Apart from that, West Germany sent one container of vaccines; the Iranian Red Lion & Sun Society, Teheran, donated eight packages of anti-venom serum for snakebite cases; and 20 bags of rice and 193 packets of clothing from Cairo and London had already been received by Pakistani authorities.

That week, there were also a host of cultural activities in Karachi. On Sept 14, a 15-day exhibition of paintings by Akhtar Mummunka opened at a local gallery with more than two dozen artworks on display, depicting “life in passion, joy and fear, hope and despondency”. The show was inaugurated by Ardeshir Cowasjee, managing director of the Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation (PTDC).

Staying on the subject of artistic expression, on Sept 16, it was claimed that the Japanese edition of the Urdu novel Khuda Ki Basti written by Shaukat Siddiqi published by a Tokyo-based firm was declared the ‘bestseller of 1972’ in Japan. Eminent scholar Prof Abul Khair Kashfi — who spent five years in the East Asian country — speaking at a function held at the Idara-i-Yadgar-i-Ghalib told the audience that the novel was translated into Japanese by the well-known linguist Prof Takishi Sozoki. A print order of 30,000 copies was ‘normal’ in Japan. However, bestsellers appeared in much greater numbers. Khuda Ki Basti (which had already been translated into 18 languages) as the bestseller could thus have been published in no less than 500,000 copies, he opined.

Literature and art are essentially about aesthetics. In those days, the city by the sea was also going through a visual enhancement process. On Sept 16, it was reported that the Hala tile-work on the road-rail Clifton Bridge was coming up well attracting the attention of passersby. Estimated to cost over Rs65,000, the diamond-cut tile-work was being undertaken as part of the Karachi Beautification Plan devised by the Karachi Municipal Corporation (KMC). The project was thought to be ‘first of its kind’. It was proposed that, subsequently, other city bridges would be beautified for the general face-lifting of the Sindh capital. Work on the 2,500-foot-long Clifton Bridge started four months back. Initially, it was expected to be complete in six months. But it was delayed because of the floods.

Published in Dawn, September 11th, 2023