The man who ‘stitched Pakistan’s first flag’

As Pakistan prepares to celebrate its 73rd Independence Day, the family of one man claims he was the first person to stitch the Pakistani flag and continued to demand posthumous recognition for him.

Addressing a press conference in Hyderabad on Sunday, Zahoorul Hassan, son of late tailor Altaf Hussain, said that his father's name should be added to Pakistan's history as the man who tailored the nation's first flag.

"We have been struggling for the last four decades to get official recognition for my father's contribution to Pakistan's history," he said.

According to Hassan, Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah himself had ordered his father to stitch the flag.

He showed a copy of a photograph published in Life magazine on August 18, 1947, depicting his father, clad in the khaki National Guard uniform, stitching the familiar green and white flag. He stated that Barrister Muhammad Sameen Khan was also a witness to his claim.

According to Hassan, even the Hyderabad division commissioner had written to the government, requesting it to grant Hussain a civil award.

He clarified that his family had also received certificates of recognition from several organisations in this regard.

"But we are saddened sad that my late father's contribution has not been recognised by the government, even after all these years," he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 11^th, 2020.