ISLAMABAD: The eighth Asian Games are proposed to be held in Islamabad from Nov 15, 1978, it was announced here today [Nov 7] after a high-level meeting presided by the Federal Education Minister and President of the Pakistan Sports Board, Mr Abdul Hafeez Pirzada. … [Putting] stress on self-reliance, the meeting decided to mobilise all available national resources to organise the Games with as little foreign assistance as possible. It, however, appreciated offers of assistance from a number of friendly countries and decided to make maximum use of such offers.

[Meanwhile, as reported by news agencies from Hong Kong,] China yesterday [Nov 6] declared it was now producing enough food to feed its near 800 million people although the country suffered from serious food shortage in the past. The announcement was made … as the United Nations World Food Con­fe­rence began discussions on how to prevent the current food crisis turning into a global calamity. [The report] said China, once known as a “land of famine”, began to solve, by her own efforts, the problem of feeding her growing population after the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949.

Published in Dawn, November 8th, 2024