Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah

Click on the image to enlarge Due to the text below this photograph, the book Freedom At Midnight is technically 'banned' in Pakistan ever since its publication more than 30 years ago. They titled the picture "Pakistan's improbable prophet"

Clockwise from left: Abdur Rab Nishtar, Baldev Singh, Acharya Kirpalani, Vallabhai Patel, Jawaharlal Nehru, Louis Mountbatten, Mohammed Ali jinnah, and Liaquat Ali Khan. The butcher of Gurdaspur Lord Ismay is seated at the back.

. Click on the image to enlarge Despite a warning from a British CID of a plot to assassinate Jinnah during this ride, the program proceeded on schedule. Mountbatten joined Jinnah on this ride from Victoria Road till Government House. The ride was most tense when passing through a Hindu neighbourhood which had little to rejoice and where the plotters were supposed to act. On reaching Government House, Jinnah kept his hand on Mountbatten's thigh and remarked, 'Thank God I brought you back alive'. 'I brought you back alive' retorted Mountbatten. Later on it was learnt that one of the conspirators lost his nerve at the crucial time. Did someone say Advani? .

By Prof Dr M Yakub Mughul The Muslims were a political power in India for more than one thousand years. Muhammad Bin Qasim conquered Sindh in 712 AD and since then Sindh became the Gateway to Islam in India. Shahabuddin Muhammad Ghauri was the first Muslim warrior who was responsible for the establishment of Muslim rule in India. After the defeat of Pirthvi Raj in the second battle of Tarain in 1192, Sultan Mohammad Ghauri appointed Qutbuddin Aibak as his Viceroy to consolidate his empire. The last Muslim dynasty, which ruled in India was the Mughul dynasty. In 1857, the Muslims lost the War of Independence and last Mughul Emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar, was deposed and made prisoner, hence, the Muslims became subjects of British India. Thus, Hindus got new masters and the British needed for their support, against the Muslims, who favoured them in every walk of life. For about a century Indians remained under the British rule, who were not only deprived of their majority provinces in all

by Dr. Javaid Iqbal The following excerpts are taken from the Legacy of Quaid-i-Azam by Javid Iqbal, the son of the poet-philosopher, Muhammad Iqbal, who was a friend and close associate of Jinnah, Javid Iqbal has published two other books in English, The Ideology of Pakistan (Lahore, 1959) and Stray Reflections (Lahore, 1961). The latter is an edition of some of his father’s notebooks. Javid Iqbal was a member of Pakistan delegation to the United Nations from 1960-62, and at present he practices law in Lahore and teachers at the Law College. An inscription on the flyleaf of The Legacy of Quaid-i-Azam says that the book is an attempt to restate “the principle and ideals which Quaid-i-Azam left behind for Pakistanis. The need for reverting to the purity of the foundational principles usually arises when a people pass through a period of ideological decay and such principles are misinterpreted, twisted or distorted.” As this comment indicates, the interpretation of Jinnah’s attitude

Recording of the Quaid-e-Azam's reply to the Lord Mountbatten's address to the First Constituent Assembly of Pakistan on 14th August 1947. Get this widget | Track details | eSnips Social DNA

Despite Mountbatten's insistence to be Governor General of both India and Pakistan, Mr Jinnah refused him the honour in Pakistan. Earlier the earl asked him, Do you know what this might cost him. Jinnah replied a few thousand square miles. Mountbatten went red in the face and replied You might lose the whole of Pakistan! True to his word he took every step to strangle Pakistan in its infancy. He fell victim to a IRA bomb while yachting with his family in 1979. Here both the Governors General are seen in the constitutent assembly of Pakistan in Karachi on 14 August 1947 and their body language says it all! .

originally uploaded by Doc Kazi . On 3 June 1947 all the Indian leaders got together and put their seal on the Partition Plan. Seated by the map on the wall is Lord Ismay, Mountbatten's Chief of Staff who probably tampered with the Radcliffe Award and gave Gurdaspur to India to keep the two new countries in a perpetual state of war over Kashmir till eternity!

originally uploaded by Doc Kazi . Mr Jinnah's first meeting with the new viceroy Lord Mountbatten was a disaster. "It took most of the interview trying to unfreeze him" remarked Mountbatten afterwards. But at the end of the meeting things got better because a group photograph had to be taken and assuming that Edwina Mountbatten would be in the center Mr Jinnah planned that we would remark 'a rose between two thorns'. Apparently Mr Jinnah was placed in the center but he passed the remark anyway causing some laughter. The relations of the two men never improved significantly though. All the rest is history!

The Muslim League's refusal to take part in the Constituent Assembly meant that the plan of the Cabinet Mission for the transfer of power in accordance with a Constitution framed cooperatively by the Indian political parties themselves had come to a deadlock. Accordingly, Prime Minister Attlee made the following statement on Indian policy in the House of Commons on February 20, 1947: His Majesty's Government desire to hand over their responsibility to authorities established by a Constitution approved by all parties in India in accordance with the Cabinet Mission's plan, but unfortunately there is at present no clear prospect that such a Constitution and such authorities will emerge. The present state of uncertainty is fraught with danger and cannot be indefinitely prolonged. His Majesty's Government wish to make it clear that it is their definite intention to take the necessary steps to effect the transference of power into responsible Indian hands by a date not late