THIS WEEK 50 YEARS AGO: Population shift and tourists' guide.

Byline: Peerzada Salman

ASK any town planner or genuine sympathiser of Karachi about what's the biggest problem - or one of the main issues, as some would like to phrase it - that the city is faced with and their response most likely will be: population explosion. The Sindh capital, in 2019, is bursting at the seams. So much so that it has become a nightmare for the people in power and for institutions to manage it. Also, these days it is extremely difficult to keep track of who's moving where within the city.

Here's an interesting nugget of info in that context: 50 years back, the Election Commission was alert to the situation. On Oct 23, 1969 the Karachi Municipal Corporation (KMC) and the Karachi Development Authority (KDA) were asked to notify in advance to the Regional Election Commission any intended shift of population in the Karachi district. It didn't take much time for both civic bodies to send their replies. The corporation assured the commission it had no such plans, but the KDA submitted a list of about half a dozen colonies whose residents were likely to be shifted to some other place. An operation by the KDA was already half-way through in the Godhra Camp. Similar operations were to start soon in the Artillery Maidan zone, Bizerta Lines, Firdous Colony and the area around the Jinnah Hospital. The commission was making arrangements to enlist the people after they had been placed in new homes. The lists of female voters were likely to be published by the commission at the time of the finalisation of the draft rolls, which was being done to 'facilitate the housewives'.

Mind you, Karachi wallahs weren't the only ones who were being looked at. The city, at the time, was an international tourist attraction. On Oct 26, the Department of Tourism announced it was conducting sample surveys at Karachi airport on the requirements of foreign...