DEC 25, 1967 was Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah`s 91st birth anniversary. Naturally, the city of Karachi was abuzz with a series of programmes organised to commemorate his memory.

Those who highlighted his services to the inception of Pakistan in particular and to the well-being of the Muslim world in general included local leaders and foreign diplomats.

At a meeting held jointly by some socio-cultural bodies at a hotel, then Syrian ambassador to Pakistan Safwat Fauzy said the Arabs had always held the Quaid-i-Azam in high esteem andconsidered him as `one of the greatest Muslim leaders`. Pakistanis, he added, were fortunate in having an illustrious leader like him who fought relentlessly, at times single-handedly, for the cause of Pakistan. Just as the Quaid continued fighting for a great cause till the last days of his life, the Arabs would not rest content until they liberated Palestine and the territories grabbed by the Israelis. He remarked that the Quaid had saved the Muslims of the subcontinent and given them a new way of life. Dec 25 was therefore not merely his birthday but the birthday of Pakistan and its people.

At a citizen`s meeting, the same day, presided over by the commissioner of Karachi, Syed Darbar Ali Shah, glowingtributes were paid by speakers to the Quaid`s efforts, and his achievements were recounted by way of exhortations to the people to follow in his footsteps in letter and spirit.

Dec 25 seemed to be the date worth celebrating for those who could celebrate it with youthful zest as well as for those who couldn`t jump with joy because of their age. It was the day when one of the oldest, if not the oldest, women in Karachi, 105-year-old Sakina bin Rawalpindiwala, was all smiles as she regained consciousness after an hour-long surgery. Sakina, born in 1862, had broken her hipbone when she had a fall in her home two days before. She was rushed to theAnklesaria Nursing Home, where doctors suggested an immediate operation. Mrs Sakina, an avid television fan, insisted that the operation be performed right away because she did not want to miss out on TV programmes, her only hobby. The operation took about an hour and was successful. By the way, it didn`t take her long to sit up and talk to her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren there were more than a hundred of them.

The number of Bengali speaking students in the city at the time was too in the hundreds, some of whom were enrolled in the Government Bengali Intermediate College Nazimabad. OnDec 27, the students of the college appealed to the authorities concerned to set question papers for all subjects in the Bengali language to enable them to take examinations in a satisfactory manner. The students whose medium of instruction was Bengali had also requested that they be provided facilities to pursue studies in Bengali after they passed their intermediate examination.

They pointed out that they faced difficulty in getting admission to degree classes because of lack of facility of answering questions in their mother tongue. Their college had not yet been recognised by the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education, Karachi.