FATHER OF THE NATION

QUAID-E-AZAM MOHAMMAD ALI JINNAH (1876–1948)
POLITICIAN AND THE FOUNDER OF PAKISTAN

QUAID-E-AZAM MOHAMMAD ALI JINNAH WAS BORN AT KARACHI ON DECEMBER 25, 1876. HE WAS A LAWYER AND POLITICIAN WHO FOUGHT FOR THE CAUSE OF INDIA'S INDEPENDENCE FROM BRITAIN, THEN MOVED ON TO FOUND A MUSLIM STATE IN PAKISTAN IN 1947. JINNAH ENTERED POLITICS IN INDIA IN 1905 AND BY 1917 HIS CHARISMA AND DIPLOMACY HAD MADE HIM A NATIONAL LEADER AND THE MOST VISIBLE SUPPORTER OF HINDU-MUSLIM UNITY. HIS STRONG BELIEF IN GRADUAL AND PEACEFUL CHANGE WAS IN CONTRAST TO THE CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE STRATEGIES OF MOHANDAS GANDHI, AND IN THE '30S JINNAH BROKE FROM THE INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS TO FOCUS ON AN INDEPENDENT MUSLIM STATE. IN 1940 HE DEMANDED A SEPARATE NATION IN PAKISTAN AND BY 1947 HE SOMEHOW MANAGED TO GET IT FROM THE BRITISH AND INDIA. THROUGH CIVIL WARS, A ROTTEN ECONOMY AND MILLIONS OF DISPLACED REFUGEES, QUAID-I-AZAM MOHAMMAD ALI JINNAH ("THE GREAT LEADER") PRETTY MUCH BUILT A COUNTRY FROM SCRATCH.
MOHAMMED ALI JINNAH IT CAN BE SAID, AS OF VERY FEW OTHER MEN IN MODERN HISTORY, THAT WITHOUT HIM THE MAP OF THE WORLD, DESTINY OF A NATION, COULD NOT HAVE BEEN AS THEY BECAME.
HAD THERE BEEN NO MAHATMA GANDHI, THERE WOULD STILL HAVE BEEN INDIAN INDEPENDENCE; HAD THERE BEEN NO LENIN AND MAO TSE-TUNG, THE RUSSIAN AND CHINESE REVOLUTIONS WOULD STILL HAVE HAPPENED, THOUGH DIFFERENTLY. BUT HAD THERE BEEN NO JINNAH THERE WOULD HAVE BEEN NO PAKISTAN, CERTAINLY NOT IN 1947 THOUGH IT CONCEIVABLY MIGHT HAVE EVOLVED THROUGH BLOODY REVOLT FROM AN INDIAN REPUBLIC. HIS LIFE AND CHARACTER ARE THEREFORE OF THE HIGHEST INTEREST TO EVERY HISTORIAN AND STUDENT OF MANKIND.

"FEW INDIVIDUALS SIGNIFICANTLY ALTER THE COURSE OF HISTORY. FEWER STILL MODIFY THE MAP OF THE WORLD. HARDLY ANYONE CAN BE CREDITED WITH CREATING A NATION-STATE. MOHAMMED ALI JINNAH DID ALL THREE."

BY 1910, AT THE BAR IN BOMBAY, JINNAH HAD ALREADY MADE HIS MARK AS AN OUTSTANDING ADVOCATE.
IN THE 1930S, JINNAH BEGAN TO BRING TOGETHER CENTRAL MUSLIM LEADERS UNDER THE BANNER OF THE MUSLIM LEAGUE. HE FINALLY ACHIEVED SUCCESS WITH THE PASSING OF THE LAHORE RESOLUTION OF THE ALL-INDIA MUSLIM LEAGUE.
HERE HE IS SEEN CONFERRING WITH HIS FELLOW LEADER ON THE GRAND OCCASION ALSO KNOWN AS THE PAKISTAN RESOLUTION.
AT A MEETING IN CUNNINGHAM PARK, PESHAWAR, ON 20TH APRIL 1948, JINNAH CAUGHT THE CHILL FROM WHICH HE NEVER RECOVERED.
THIS RARE PHOTOGRAPH SHOWS JINNAH WITH HIS SISTER, FATIMA, AND HIS ONLY CHILD, DINA. JINNAH'S MARRIAGE WITH DINA'S MOTHER HAD BEEN A TRUE LOVE MATCH. HOWEVER HIS DEDICATION TO POLITICAL LIFE PUT IN UNBEARABLE STRAIN ON HIS MUCH YOUNGER WIFE. THOUGH THEY PARTED, AFTER HER DEATH JINNAH ENDURED A PERIOD OF PRIVATE DESOLATION.

HIS AFFECTION FOR HIS DAUGHTER AND GRANDCHILDREN WAS SUSTAINED TILL THE END OF HIS LIFE: HIS DELIGHT IN THE COMPANY OF CHILDREN CONSTANTLY REVEALED ITSELF.
THE FINAL ROUND TABLE CONFERENCE WAS HELD IN LONDON IN LATE 1946. JINNAH'S PRINCIPAL AIDE WAS LIAQAT ALI KHAN.

LIAQAT ALI KHAN WENT ON TO BECOME THE FIRST PRIME MINISTER OF PAKISTAN.
IN 1946 JINNAH ADDRESSED AN EID GATHERING IN BOMBAY. HE WAS THEN PRESIDENT OF THE ALL-INDIA MUSLIM LEAGUE. HE IS SEEN WITH HIS SISTER, FATIMA, WHO ACCOMPANIED HIM THROUGHOUT HIS POLITICAL CAREER.

ON 14 AUGUST 1947, ADMIRAL LORD LOUIS MOUNTBATTEN, LAST VICEROY OF BRITISH INDIA, MAKING HIS VALEDICTORY ADDRESS TO THE CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY OF PAKISTAN WITH THE QUAID, FATIMA JINNAH AND THE LADY EDWINA MOUNTBATTEN.

DESPITE THEIR DIFFICULTIES, MOUNTBATTEN ADMIRED JINNAH'S "SINGLE-MINDEDNESS AND SENSE OF LEADERSHIP."
THE QUAID NEVER USED HIS PRIVATE RESIDENCE AT KARACHI, BUT FLAGSTAFF HOUSE WAS THE CHOSEN HOME OF HIS SISTER FATIMA.

THE SUMMER RESIDENCE AT ZIARAT, WHERE JINNAH STRUGGLED WITH HIS MORTAL ILLNESS IS STILL PRESERVED THIS DAY AS IT WAS WHEN HE WAS ALIVE.

FLOOD LIGHTS ILLUMINATE THE MAUSOLEUM OF QUAID-E-AZAM MOHAMMED ALI JINNAH, WHICH STANDS AMIDST BEAUTIFUL GARDENS IN KARACHI.
BUILT ENTIRELY OF WHITE MARBLE, ITS IMPRESSIVE NORTH AFRICAN STYLE ARCHES AND MAGNIFICENT CRYSTAL CHANDELIER OF CHINESE ORIGIN GIVE IT IN AIR OF SERENITY AND SOLEMNITY.
THE QUAID DIED ON 11 SEPTEMBER, 1948. HIS SISTER, FATIMA, APPROVED THE DESIGN OF THE MAUSOLEUM. THE TOMB ITSELF LIES BELOW GROUND, BENEATH ITS OWN REPLICA.