Karachi riots 2007
Riots break out in the Pakistani city of Karachi on May 12, 2007 leading to deaths of 48 people.
The suspension of the then- chief justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry raised tensions in the country that culminated in violence in Karachi on 12 May, 2007 after Chaudhry’s plane landed at the city’s airport. Political activists from rival political parties engaged in widespread violence and effectively brought the entire city to a hault. Media outlets were attacked, buses and offices were torched, public infrastructure damaged and gunfights broke out that killed 48 people. Allegations of inappropriate response were leveled against the authorities.
Human Rights Watch blamed the government for the mayhem in the city: “This [violence] can either be due to the incompetence of the government, or its complicity,” it said in its report.
Despite more than ten years since the incident, major political parties continue to heap blame on each other for the violence.
No significant investigation or arrests over the incident have yet been made.
Earthquake in China kills close to 90,000
Earthquake strikes China’s Sichuan Province at 2:30 pm on May 12, 2008.
The earthquake registered a strength of 7.9 on the Richter scale and tremors were reported in Northern Pakistan and other countries within minutes as well.
While rescue efforts were rapidly initiated, the tremors caused catastrophic damage, killing over 87,000 people and injured over 374,000.
Infrastructure losses stood at $150 billion.
Soviet Union lifts blockade of Berlin
One of the earliest major diplomatic crises of the Cold War ends as the Soviet Union lifts blockade of Berlin on May 12, 1949.
The blockade was put in place in 1948 and prevented access of Western Allies to parts of Berlin under their control. The Soviet Union put this measure in place against the introduction of new currency for West Germany – Deutsche Mark. However, the Western Allies responded with developing an air corridor that dropped supplies for West Berlin residents. Fearing war in case the airlift programme was interfered with and realising the blockade had failed, the USSR lifted it on 12 May, 1949.
Luna 5 crashes on the Moon
The unmanned Soviet Spacecraft Luna 5, intended to become the first spacecraft to achieve a soft landing on the Moon, developed a technical error and impacted the Moon’s surface at full force on May 12, 1965.
Asad Rauf is born
Former Pakistani first-class cricketer and former Test cricket Umpire with the ICC, Asad Rauf was born on 12 May, 1956 in Lahore, Punjab.
Erik Erikson passes away
The German-American Developmental Psychologist Erik Homberger Erikson passes away May 12, 1994 at the age of 91.
Awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1969, Erikson authored a number of books over the course of his lifetime but is renowned predominantly for developing the ‘Stages of Psycho-social Development’ that outlined eight stages through which each healthy individual passed through from infancy to adulthood – each stage carried its own existential question. The term Identity crisis was developed by Erikson as well.
The Erikson Institute in Chicago is named in his honour.
“It is only after a reasonable sense of identity has been established that real intimacy with others can be possible. The youth who is not sure of his or her identity shies away from interpersonal intimacy, and can become, as an adult, isolated or lacking in spontaneity, warmth or the real exchange of fellowship in relationship to others; but the surer the person becomes of their self, the more intimacy is sought in the form of friendship, leadership, love and inspiration. The counterpart to intimacy is distantiation, which is the readiness to repudiate those forces and people whose essence seems dangerous to one’s own.”
– Eril Erikson
Florence Nightingale is born (International Nurses Day)
Florence Nightingale is born on 12 May, 1820. She gained fame for her management of nurses during the Crimean War where she tended to wounded troops – she was referred to as “The Lady with the Lamp”.
Her work during the war and after it effectively established the modern nursing method and left a lasting legacy in terms of training offered to nurses and behaviour expected from them.
The Nightingale Pledge is named in her honour and so is the International Nurses Day that is celebrated across the world on 12 May – the day she was born.
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