Last Thursday a letter to editor appeared from ex senior civil servant and a real intellectual Mr. Kunwar Idris ex DC Karachi.
He was commenting on recent change of name of Karachi’s very famous Jehangir Road attributing it now to some Mufti’s name exact name of which I forgot now. Mr. Idris stated Jehangir Road was named about 80 years back in recognition of good civic services done by Sir Jehangir who created the first proper and the then modern Sewerage system for Karachi which 15 millions we the Karachities still enjoy. He stated name was now being changed by City Nazim who belongs to Jamat-e-Islami. I am a Karachiti. I know the City Nazim and his predessors have given no improvement to the sewerage system rather the system is going worst day by day thanks to our system giving extension over extension against rules of the country even beyond age of 68 to head of Karachi Buiding Control Authority which has since almost twp years closed its eyes from devastation of civic amenities. Karachi’s today’s sewerage system basically is the same created by Sir Jehangir except in Posh DHA. Mr. Idris questioning what good public work the said Mufti has done? He says the good nations always keep their heritage and history in tact and do not try to change it.
I am the one who do not like India. I believe though internally we ourselves are responsible but fact is India has till today not accepted the partition and tries always to harm Pakistan one way or the other. I do not believe India is as big a democracy or is as economical giant as it claims. But there are a few things of India which I do like and I do praise. One of it is giving importance to its heritage, its columnist not re-writing its side of history on behest of others, keeping civic sense namely not allotting public parks or stadiums for housings or commercial purposes etc.
The day Kunwar Idris’s letter appeared, the same day the column of Urdu’s very senior columnist Hassan Nisar also appeared. This column was mostly covering his recent visit to India aftermath of today’s sweet coated confidence building. He writes before his own birth in partition his grands left the Indian Punjab. A chowk called Freed Chowk there was after the name of his grandfather (father of his mother). He says that Chowk is still named Freed Chowks and Indian Hindus and Sikhs have never thought of changing its name in the hate of religion.
This is what I praise. The nations who preserves names of noble people I think they remain in history. The other day a Doctor who himself in his student age was an enthusiastic voice raiser of Jamat-e-Islami was telling me with his heavy heart that he recently went to Lahore and visited Ganga Ram Hospital. He saw on the main entrance where two staircases are in between there is an old photograph of creator of the Hospital Ganga Ram which has never been cleaned. He felt pain in his heart when he saw that the management of the hospital in order to pay their respect to the creator of this community Hospital from his own pocket have placed a big waste collection box. Once in 1970s in Bangaldesh name of a road was changed. The newspaper owned by Pakistan’s biggest newgroups in its editorial criticized this move. But when we changed the name of Guru Mandir Karachi to Sabeel Wali Masjid this newspaper had no conscious even to write a world about it.
In Lahore old areas I do remember having seen at little distances buildings having outside one or two taps for passer bys drinking water. These were mostly in buildings left by Hindus though there were some belonging to Muslim. When in 1985 I last went all these water taps had gone. On the Guru Mandar bus stop which is a very big stop mostly used by thousands of students daily there was a constructed water tank with 3-4 water taps. This was surely made on his personal expense by some follower of Guru. When we the Islam lovers changed its name with Sabeel Wali Masjid this tanks went dried never ever later to be filled with water. Such taps used to be at hundreds of places along Bunder Road but with change of name to M.A. Jinnah Road today hardly there are two three drinking water facilities one near Eid Bagh, one near Denso Hall bus stop at an arts gallery.