Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah

Click on the image to enlarge . .

By Mahmud Ali The Quaid at home, 10 Aurangzeb Road, New Delhi Lord Louis Mountbatten, the last British Viceroy to India, declared on 3 June, 1947 that the British paramount power had decided to create two independent dominions in the subcontinent which  eventually would attain sovereignty. In the declaration it was envisaged that although the dominion of Pakistan would constitute some area of North-Western and some areas of North-Eastern parts of the subcontinent, yet the whole of the Punjab in the North-West and the whole of Bengal in North-East would not form part of Pakistan. The moment I read about it in the newspapers on 4 June, 1947 I felt shocked and dismayed in my prison cell: I thought within my self, “O God! Quaid-i-Azam’s assertion has also failed to come true!” My faith in the Quaid-i-Azam was such that I never imagined that his affirmation would not fructify. I functioned as Secretary Assam Provincial Muslim League during 1945-47. In April, 1946 after the Muslim

Speech to the Royal Pakistan Air Force Station Risalpur on 13th April, 1948. It gives me great pleasure to pay my first visit to a unit of the Royal Pakistan Air Force. There is no doubt that any country without a strong Air Force is at the mercy of any aggressor. Pakistan must build up her Air Force as quickly as possible. It must be an efficient Air Force second to none and must take its right place with the Army and the Navy in securing Pakistan’s defence. I am well aware of air developments in other countries and my Government is determined that the Royal Pakistan Air Force will not lee behind. The Royal Pakistan Air Force has started with very few assets, except loyalty and determination, to succeed. But the Royal Pakistan Air Force is already taking shape; this school formed only 7 months ago is a worthy example of this. I know also that you are short of aircraft and equipment, but efforts are being made to procure the necessary equipment and orders for modern aircraft h

Message to the First Olympic Games on 12th April 1948. For sound minds we should have sound bodies and that is why nations the world over attach so much importance to boy-building and physical culture. The first Pakistan Olympic Games should act as an incentive to all Pakistan nationals to emulate the Olympic Motto “Citius, Althius, Fortiusn” i.e. “Faster, Higher and stronger” I wish the organizers of the games and all competitors the best of luck. Build up Pakistan higher, firmer and stronger. Pakistan Zindabad

Reply to the Address presented by the Students of Islamia College, Peshawar on 12th April, 1948. Click to enlarge Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen, I am indeed very happy to be present here today and to have the privilege of meeting and addressing the students of this great Dar-ul-Ulum, who are the future builders of Pakistan. On this occasion the thought that is naturally uppermost in my mind is the support and help that the movement for the achievement of Pakistan received from the student community, particularly of this Province. I cannot help feeling that the unequivocal and unmistakable decision of the people of this Province to join Pakistan, which was given through the referendum held last year, was helped considerably by the contribution made by the students. I take particular pride in the fact that the people of this Province have never and in no way lagged behind in the struggle for freedom and achievement of Pakistan. Now that we have achieved our national goal

Reply to the Speech made by the First Ambassador of the Republic of France to Pakistan at the time of Presenting credentials to the Quaid-e-Azam on 21st January, 1948. Your Excellency, It has given me great pleasure to welcome you today in your capacity as the first Ambassador of the Republic of France to Pakistan. With your appointment the relationship between our two countries assumes a closer and more intimate form and I hope and trust that this will presage the most cordial and friendly co-operation between our two countries. The magnificent history of your great country and its achievements are well known to the world. In common with other nations, we in Pakistan have admired the high principles of democracy that form the basis of your Great State. The cry of liberty, fraternity and equality which was raised during your Great Revolution and officially adopted by your great Republic had its repercussions throughout the world as is known to every student of history. These idea

Speech on the occasion of the presentation of New Pakistan Coins and Notes by the Finance Minister of Pakistan, on 1st April, 1948. I thank you Mr. Finance Minister for the honour you have done me by presenting the first Pakistan coins and notes to me today. I take this opportunity of publicly expressing the appreciation of the Government and people of Pakistan of the way in which you and your Ministry has handled the finances of our Young State and your untiring zeal to put them on a sound footing. When we first raised our demand for a sovereign and independent State of Pakistan there were not a few false prophets who tried to deflect us from our set purpose by saying that Pakistan was not economically feasible. They painted extremely dark pictures of the future of our State and its financial and economic soundness. The very first budget presented by you must have caused a shock to those false prophets. It has already demonstrated the soundness of Pakistan’s finances and the determi

Broadcast Speech from Radio Pakistan, Dhaka on 28th March, 1948. During the past nine days that I have spent in your province, I have been studying your local conditions and some of the problems that confront east Bengal. Tonight, on the eve of my departure, I want to place before you some of my impressions. Before I do this, however, let me first cordially thank you for the great warmth and affection with which you have received me everywhere in your midst during my stay here. From the administrative point of view, East Bengal perhaps more than any other province of Pakistan, has had to face the most difficult problems as a result of Partition. Before August 14, it existed merely as a hinterland to Calcutta, to whose prosperity it greatly contributed but which it did not share. On August 14, Dhaka was merely a mofussil town, having none of the complex facilities and amenities, which are essential for the capital of a modern Government. Further, owing to partition, the province’s t

Speech at the Public Reception at Chittagong on 26th March, 1948. I am grateful to you all for the warm welcome which you have accorded me on this my first visit to a city destined to be one of the biggest in Pakistan as a whole. On my part I am glad to be in your midst and I need hardly assure you that not only are your problems being dealt with steadily and progressively but that unhindered by difficulties and obstacles we are determined to make good the neglect of centuries in course of the next few years when Chittagong will rank as one of the finest ports in the world. You are only voicing my sentiments and the sentiments of millions of Mussalmans when you say that Pakistan should be based on sure foundations of social justice and Islamic socialism, which, emphasis’s equality and brotherhood of man. Similarly you are voicing my thoughts in asking and in aspiring for equal opportunities for all. These targets of progress are not controversial in Pakistan, for we demanded Pakis

Message to the Pakistan Medical Association, Dhaka on the 26th March, 1948. I have learnt with great interest that the Pakistan Medical Association has been formed and is going to be inaugurated on Saturday the 27th March, 1948 in Dhaka. This Association, I hope, will serve earnestly to organize the medical profession in Pakistan on a high level befitting our State. It can render many services if it is well organized and efficient. For example, it can help to speed up medical relief of which we stand in very great need indeed at present. It will also keep medical and social contact with similar interests in other parts of the world for exchange of views and ideas from time to time, and thereby establish better understanding in solving medical problems peculiar to various countries and Pakistan. I wish Pakistan Medical Association all success.

Address to the Gazetted Officers of Chittagong on 25th March, 1948 I thank you for giving me this opportunity to see you collectively. My time is very limited and so it was not possible for me to see you individually. I have told you two things: I have already said what I had to say to the Gazette Officers at Dhaka. I hope you should read an account of what I said there in the newspapers. If you have not I would request you to take the trouble of reading what I said there. One cannot say something new everyday. I have been making so many speeches and I expect each one of you to know my views by now. Ladies and Gentlemen, I want you to realize fully the deep implications of the revolutionary change that has taken place. Whatever community, caste or creed you belong to you are now the servants of Pakistan. Servants can only do their duties and discharge their responsibilities by serving. Those days have gone when the country was ruled by the bureaucracy. It is people’s Government, re

Speech at the Dhaka University Convocation on 24th March, 1948 (Recorded by Radio Pakistan, Dhaka) Mr. Chancellor, Ladies and Gentlemen, When I was approached by the vice-chancellor with a request to deliver the Convocation Address, I made it clear to him that there were so many calls on me that I could not possible prepare a formal convocation address on an academic level with regard to the great subjects with which University deals, such as arts, history, philosophy, science, law and so on. I did, however, promise to say a few words to the students on this occasion, and it is in fulfillment of that promise that I will address you now. First of all, let me thank the vice-chancellor for the flattering terms in which he referred to me. Mr. vice-chancellor, whatever I am, and whatever I have been able to do, I have done it merely as a measure of duty which is incumbent upon every Mussalman to serve his people honestly and selflessly. In addressing you I am not here speaking to yo

Speech at a public meeting attended by over three lakhs of people at Dhaka on March 21, 1948. Asalam-o-Alaikum! I am grateful to the people of this province and, through you Mr. Chairman of the Reception Committee, to the people of Dhaka, for the great welcome that they have accorded to me. I need hardly say that it gives me the greatest pleasure to visit East Bengal. East Bengal is the most important component of Pakistan, inhabited as it is by the largest single bloc of Muslims in the world. I have been anxious to pay this province an early visit, but unfortunately, other matters of greater importance had so far prevented me from doing so. About some of these important matters, you doubtless know. You know, for instance, of the cataclysm that shook the Punjab immediately after partition, and of the millions of Muslims who in consequence were uprooted from their homes in East Punjab, Delhi and neighboring districts and had to be protected, sheltered and fed pending rehabilitation in W

Speech at the Ceremonial Army Parade at Kurmitolla Airport on 20th March, 1948. Officers and Men, I thank you for the honor you have done me in giving me the salute.I shall always remember this opportunity that has been afforded to me You know that Pakistan had to start from scratch. East Bengal is one of its most powerful components and you have got now an opportunity which you have not had for, may I say, two centuries or more. Bengal generally, in which of course, East Bengal was included where happens to be the largest Muslim population, was considered as negligible in quality and quantity, for military purposes. The martial spirit of Bengal is historically known, and specially the part the Muslims played in the history of the past Bengal. That martial spirit, like many other great qualities was oppressed, suppressed and the martial spirit was dead –with a sort of damper put on –and in Bengal we got to a point when as I said Bengal did not count for military purposes. Now, in