Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah

By Mahmud Ali  Prior to launching of the Pakistan Movement in the South Asian Subcontinent, the economic conditions of the Muslims, in general, were precarious. For this both the British and the Hindu Bania had joined hands after the fall of Mughal Rule in India. Muslim League objective, therefore, was aimed at economic emancipation of the Muslims, both from the British Imperial exploitation as well as from the Hindu money lenders. The idea behind a separate Muslim state was that, in such a state it would be possible for the incoming people’s government, to adopt and implement an economic system, based on the principles of Islamic Shariat, which prevent concentration of wealth into few hands, and thus ensure equitable distribution of the resources to the generality of the people, thereby paving the way for affluence and eradication of poverty and exploitation of man by man. Unfortunately the continuation of the impact of the Pakistan Movement came to a dead stop after the sad demi

By Qutubuddin Aziz The Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, who assumed the reins of office as the first Governor General of Pakistan, on August 14, 1947, exercised the utmost economy in authorising government spending on his high office as Governor General and his own person. He kept a strict watch on the official expenditure on the Governor General's House in Karachi and his person. Having refused to accept the high salary to which he was entitled as the Governor General, the Quaid-i-Azam shunned the huge expenditure in vogue in India and other Commonwealth countries on the gubernatorial establishment and personally examined every month the items of expenditure on the staff, services and utilities of the Governor General's House in Karachi. He instructed the staff to show care and economy in the consumption of electricity and piped water in the household. The Governor General was fully aware of the financial constraints the fledgling State of Pakistan was at that time suffering

Reply to the Address presented by the Karachi Chamber of Commerce on 27th April 1948. It gives me great pleasure, Mr. Chairman, to be here this morning with you all at this you’re 88th Annual General Meeting. I presume it is an accident to hold this meeting in the premises of the Karachi Cotton Association, for one can hardly dissociate Karachi from commerce and the commerce of this place from cotton. You have, Mr. Chairman, covered a very wide field in your address, from the founding of the sovereign and independent State of Pakistan to the petty usurpations of power by minor official here and there over this far-flung Dominion, from the intricacies of cotton trade to the common place of delays. You will, however, hardly expect me to follow you in every detail in my reply. I cannot, however, let an opportunity, such as you have presented to me today, pass without calling attention to certain salient points arising out of your address. Let me, Mr. Chairman first acknowledge the tri

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