THURSDAY night [Sept 4] passed off peacefully in Karachi which was under a 10-hour curfew. No incident was reported in the city till late on Friday afternoon. Shops and other business quarters worked normally and except for the exodus of a large number of Sikhs and Marwaris by sea to ports in Bombay, there was nothing abnormal in the life of the city. The curfew at night was effective and few disobeyed it. Heavy patrolling by the police and posting of pickets at danger points reassured the nervous members of the minorities. Thousands of persons who used to sleep on the pavements had to find themselves shelters for the night.

On Friday morning there was, however, a mad rush by the Sikhs generally and a section of the Hindu minority to get out of the town.

This was not because they were afraid of the Muslims in Pakistan, but of the `insanity` of their brethren in the Indian Union. ... Almost all the shipping and airline offices were besieged by members of the minority communities for passage to places in the Indian Union. ..

Every available means of road transport, from camel cart to taxis, was requisitioned ... to [take] them, their families and their belongings to the Keamari docks. Dawn Karachi