KARACHI: Every year in Pakistan, while televisions boom with the news of Eid moon-sighting, one southern fishing town still feels the nostalgia of old Arab cannons going off to announce the holy festival.
The city of Gwadar, a natural hammerhead-shaped headland, was relinquished by the Sultanate of Oman in 1958 when Pakistan purchased it for Rs5.5 billion. The city is central to the multi-billion-dollar China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and is situated on a tapered and sandy 12 km long strip that links the Pakistani coast to rocky outcroppings in the Arabian Sea.
Before Pakistan took reign of the fishing town, rituals in the area were a mix of local and Arab traditions, locals say.
“In our childhood... we would stand at a distance and witness the scene,” Hasan Ali Sohail, an author and local historian, told Arab News.
First, nitrous would be put inside the cannon and then sacks pressed inside to strengthen it, he said.
“All those sacks would fly skyward and when they would fall down, we would run, pick them and run toward our homes while shouting,” Sohail laughed. “This was an expression of happiness in those days.”
“The scene is still fresh in my mind despite the passage of over seven decades.”
A cannon would be placed right in front of the residence of the Wali-e-Gwadar (administrator of the city) he continued, and when the moon of Ramadan or Eid would be sighted, the people would be informed through the firing.
“When the Arab soldier would get news of the moon-sighting, a rod on fire would be inserted inside the cannon, and when the iron branding reached the sacks, he would run back and stand at a distance.”
Muhammad Akbar, 80, who was a young fisherman then, has similar memories of the Eid cannon.
“I still remember that on one Eid, while I accompanied my father for deep sea fishing, we heard the sound (of the cannon), and we turned back and anchored our fishing boat, and hurried toward home,” Akber said.
Despite the passage of time, all the old rituals haven’t faded, and some links with the former state have stayed strong.
“We still break our fasts like Arabs,” Akbar told Arab News.
Unlike the rest of the country, the people of Gwadar consume a substantial quantity of dates and lassi (yogurt-based drink) during Ramadan and have their dinner after Tarawih prayers. Sukoun, an Arabian dish, is also made and shared by the people of the town.
Noor Mohsin, a local journalist, told Arab News that thousands of Gwadar locals possess dual Pakistani and Omani nationality and live and work between the two countries.
“There is a strong bond the people of Gwadar feel with Arabs... which will always remain intact,” Mohsin added.
In Pakistan’s Gwadar, every Eid brings nostalgia for an Arab cannon blast
https://arab.news/p65rw
In Pakistan’s Gwadar, every Eid brings nostalgia for an Arab cannon blast
- Gwadar, once a tiny fishing town and now a port city centric to the multi-billion dollar CPEC, remained part of Oman from 1783 to 1958
- Thousands of Gwadar locals have dual Pakistani and Omani nationality, and continue to live and work between the two countries
Pakistan's Sindh announces judicial inquiry into deadly Karachi plaza fire
- Around 80 people were killed in Karachi Gul Plaza fire that broke out on Jan. 17, says Sindh information minister
- Says initial fact-finding committee discovered fire tenders were provided water with delay, which affected firefighting
ISLAMABAD: Sindh Information Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon announced on Thursday that the provincial government has requested a judicial inquiry into a deadly Karachi shopping plaza inferno that killed around 80 people earlier this month.
The fire broke out at Karachi's famous Gul Plaza, a multi-story shopping complex in the city's Saddar area, on the night of Jan. 17. The blaze killed 80 and took three days to extinguish, while rescue and relief efforts took over a week.
Speaking to reporters during a news conference, Memon said a Sindh cabinet sub-committee, chaired by Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah, reviewed a fact-finding committee report on the Karachi Gul Plaza fire.
He said the fact-finding committee discovered that the Civil Defense department conducted fire safety audits of the mall and other buildings since 2023, but no effective, precautionary or legal action was taken to ensure such incidents were avoided. He said as a result, the Civil Defense director and the department's additional controller for district South were both suspended.
"A letter is being written to the honorable chief justice of the Sindh High Court in which we are requesting the chief justice to appoint a serving judge for a judicial inquiry," Memon said.
"So that we can review everything in accordance with the law himself and take decisions on it."
Memon said that there were around 2,000 to 2,500 people in the building when the fire broke out, adding that these included workers and visitors.
He said the sub-committee had also noted that fire tenders were provided water with delay which affected the firefighting services of the Karachi Municipal Corporation (KMC), Rescue 1122 and fire brigades.
The minister said the government had also suspended the chief engineer and in-charge hydrants of the Karachi Water and Sewerage Corporation, and that action will be taken against them.
Memon said the committee had also concluded that the KMC, Rescue 1122 and fire brigades' firefighting tools and training to deal with an inferno of such a scale were "inadequate."
He said the government has also suspended the senior director of municipal services in the KMC and that departmental action against him will be taken for not ensuring that the fire staff was properly prepared to tackle such a blaze.
The minister said the sub-committee had directed the relevant department to carry out a needs assessment so that the firefighting capabilities of the provincial and local government are further strengthened.
Fires have become an increasingly frequent occurrence in Karachi, a megacity of more than 20 million people, where fire services remain severely overstretched and under-resourced relative to population density and the scale of commercial activity.
Successive deadly incidents have drawn criticism of the provincial Sindh administration over lax enforcement of building codes, inadequate inspections and limited emergency response capacity.
Sindh's opposition parties, especially the Muttahida Quami Movement-Pakistan, accuse the Sindh government of neglecting Karachi's infrastructural development. The provincial government rejects these allegations.
