The home Quaid-i-Azam could not even spend a full day in

During the recent arson attack on May 9, miscreants damaged over 1,500 historic items at the property

LAHORE:

The Founder of Pakistan had bought the Jinnah House building, which is located in the cantonment area, but he could not stay in it even for a day.

According to researchers, the property initially was owned by Lala Shiv Dayal Seth, a prominent social personality of the city associated with the construction business. He sold the house to Khawaja Nazir Ahmad a few years before his death in 1935, who registered it in the name of his wife.

His wife sold the bungalow to Lala Mohanlal Bhasin.

Quaid-i-Azam bought the bungalow from Mohanlal in July 1943 for Rs162,500. It was among the four properties owned by the leader.

Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah had sold his Little Gibbs bungalow and Mayfair flat in Bombay to purchase the Jinnah Houses in Karachi and Lahore in 1943.

A researcher and senior bureaucrat, Dr Saad Khan, writes in his book, “Muhammad Ali, Wealth, Property and Will”, that when the Quaid-i-Azam bought the house in Lahore, it was already rented by the British Army for a nominal monthly rent of Rs5. The British Army could acquire any property under the Defence of India Rules.

When Quaid bought the house, the tenancy of the army was about to expire, but it extended the period under the same rule.

Among his four houses in Bombay, Karachi and Lahore, this was the only residence where the Quaid-i-Azam could not stay. When he came to Lahore, he used to stay in Suite No. 18 of Falettti’s Hotel.

In 1948, when he visited Lahore as the governor-general, he stayed at the State Guest House and went to the Jinnah House to see his bungalow, where he had tea with military officials in the study room and then took a short walk in the lawn.

During the recent arson attack on May 9, miscreants damaged valuable items, including rare photographs of the Quaid-i-Azam and artefacts.

More than 1,500 historic items were damaged and looted, including sofa sets, snooker tables, chairs, cigar holders, vases, beds, shoes and clothes used by the Father of the Nation.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 15^th, 2023.