Quaid-e-Azam House turned into Nation Building Institute

CM says Jinnah's letters written to his party impart 'great learning' to reader

The signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the Sindh culture department and Jinnah Society on Monday marked the turning of the Quaid-e-Azam House into a National Building Institute.

Sindh culture department secretary Akbar Laghari signed the MoU on behalf of the Sindh government. It has been agreed in the MoU that a board of governors would be handed over the management of the historical landmark.

Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah's grandnephew Liaquat Merchant and Ikram Sehgal of the Karachi Council of Foreign Relations will serve as the vice-chairpersons of the board and the Sindh chief minister has been decided as its ex-officio chairperson.

The board has been authorised to use the premises of the house, which, for years, remains a museum dedicated to the life of the father of the nation, for educational and cultural activities, art exhibitions and other events. The board can also generate funds running its affairs and organising events at the museum.

Letters of Jinnah

Addressing the signing ceremony, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah claimed the letters Jinnah wrote to his party during the 1940s made it evident that the founders of Pakistan belonged to Sindh. "It was in 2002, when I was in the opposition, that I visited the provincial archives department, where I saw a collection of Quaid-e-Azam's letters compiled by Khalid Shamsul Hassan," he recalled. "The letters, written to the Quaid's party, impart great learning [to the reader]."

The CM added, "When Quaid-e-Azam was making the country, there were intrigues, and how he handled them was [an example of the] height of political wisdom, sagacity and farsightedness. And we must learn from the experience of our elders as we continue to face similar intrigues even today."

He urged Jinnah Society to get hold of the original copies of those letters, guessing that they might be available with Hassan's family.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 10^th, 2021.