Pictured here are young girls in trousers and skirts and nuns at Hawkesbay Beach, Karachi and young students of Karachi University in the 1960s. These were the days before General Ziaul Haq’s Islamization. When he took over in 1977 he declared that Islamic laws would be enforced. Zia’s men drew up lists of artists. Fine arts, the performing arts were clamped down on. Attempts were made at banning Sufi music at shrines. Classical music wasn’t allowed on the radio. A majority of Zia’s cabinet were members of the “anti-fahashi and anti-ayashi” movement, according to historian Arif Hasan. The prime minister at the time, Pakistan Peoples Party founder Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, was engaged in a conflict with the right-wing alliance. He banned Karachi’s nightlife, according to Hasan. Zuhr prayers were made compulsory at government institutions. The nazim-e-Salat was introduced. This was a person who wandered around neighbourhoods, calling people to prayer in the morning. If you didn’t go, you were visited politely in the evening and asked why. The draconian Hudood Ordinance was introduced with its medieval punishments such as floggings, amputations for theft and demands that a rape victim had to produce four Muslim witnesses or risk being charged with adultery.
Prior to this, Karachi had live music at parties, discos and weddings. According to Arif Hasan, legends such as Quincy Jones, Duke Ellington, Count Bassey and The Beatles had played at venues like the Metropole, Beach Luxury and Palace Hotels. Ava Gardner, pictured here courtesy V Minwalla Dastur, stayed at Hotel Metropole in 1955 enroute to shooting for
Bhowani Junction in Lahore, according to
Dawn. Her film,
The Barefoot Contessa, was being shown in cinemas in Karachi then.
Nightclubs such as the Excelsior, Lido and Roma Shabana introduced dancing girls. There were two dance institutes in Karachi and in the 1950s there were dance competitions, most famously at the Railway Club. Ivan’s Aces were invited to play at Bhutto’s inaugural bash in Larkana, January 1972 by Murtaza Bhutto, a loyal fan. With Ziaul Haq’s reign all of this ended.