THE year 1973 did not exactly begin on an auspicious note for Karachiites. On Jan 3, several persons received minor injuries when two groups of people clashed at a public meeting at Nishtar Park addressed by President Z A Bhutto. The trouble started when the audience was raising slogans and counter slogans of `manzoor hai` (we accept it) and `na manzoor` (we don`t accept it) as the president touched upon the question of Bangladesh in his speech.

A group of six to seven young men most of them students sitting near the women`s enclosure chanted na manzoor when the other section of the crowd was saying manzoor hai. Members of the people`s guardstanding nearby took objection to them and asked the boys not to say that. When it didn`t happen, they along with some policemen got hold of them and beat them up. This started a scuffle in which other members of the audience joined. But the police controlled the situation and arrested five of the boys.

Subsequently, the police confirmed that a young man, Nasir, had been booked under the Arms Ordinance for allegedly carrying a revolver. He had violated the ordinance to deposit all firearms before entering the park.

They also charged that he was instigating others not to recognise Bangladesh and in the process violated Section 144.

On Jan 7, a firecracker exploded and five gunshots were fired in the air during a public meeting addressed by M Asghar Khan at [the same] Nishtar Park. The policearrested two persons one for carrying a revolver and the other for having a knife with him. Four more were held from outside of the venue for not complying with Section 144.

The Tehreek-i-Istiqlal chief had spoken for a while when the explosion was heard. It took place in the north-east corner of the park.

There was some confusion, and according to eyewitnesses, a man who had a loaded revolver fired three shots in the air to scare away the crowd and two more near the exit.

He was overpowered by the Tehrik volunteers and handed over to the police. About 25 minutes later, some stones were hurled, too, from that corner. A man who was alleged to be causing the trouble was got hold of by the volunteers who beat him up. He was seen bleeding.

The stories didn`t sound dark in the politicalarena alone. On Jan 5, as the media reported the next day, many parts of the city had no electricity for nearly an hour as the third unit of the Karachi Electric Supply Corporation (now, KE), Korangi Power Station suffered a breakdown. The outage caused temporary suspension of work in many factories.

Speaking of the media, on Jan 7, Minhaj Barna was elected President of the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) at the biannual elections held at the Karachi Press Club (KPC). He polled 31 votes as against 13 votes bagged by his rival Bashirul Islam Usmani. All the 44 delegates representing the various provincial unions of the PFUJ cast their votes. Nisar Osmani was elected Secretary-General. He got 27 votes as against 15 by Muniruddin Qureshi (aka Munno Bhai).