QUAID-E-AZAM

Baba-e Qaum, Quaid-e Azam Muhammad Ali Jinah was born in Karachi on December the 25th, 1876, in a
building known as Wazir Mansion. He got his early education at Karachi and Bombay. He did his barristery
from England. He saw the name of Hazrat Muhammad (PBUH) on the top of the gate of Lincoln's Inn. So he
decided to study there. After his return, Jinah started his practice in barristery. He joined All India National
Congress in 1906. He attended for the first time a meeting of All India Muslim League in 1912. Later he Joined
All India Muslim League in 1913. The third political party he joined was the Home Rule League. He was
member of both the Congress and Muslim League at the same time. Initially he remained working with the
Hindu leaders of Congress. He was given the title of "Ambassador of Hindu Muslim Unity" by prominent
politicians. With the passage of time he realised that the Hindu leaders of Congress have a different agenda.
He left Congress and became fully involved with Muslim League.

Jinah was a man of principles. He was probably the only person among all the big leaders of the subcontinent,
who never went to jail. His motto was: Unity, Faith and Discipline.

When Muslim League finally decided to have a separate country for Muslims of the subcontinent, it was the
leadership of Jinah which led the nation to achieve this goal. Because of these leadership qualities and his firm
stand on the issue, Britishers found no way to reject the demand of Muslims of the subcontinent for a separate
homeland. He took charge as the first Governor General of Pakistan on 14th of August 1947 in a ceremony at
Karachi. India never took risk of invading Hyderabad or Junagarh in his life. Jinah died on September the 11th,
1948, at Ziarat near Quetta. He was buried in Karachi. His tomb is a beautiful piece of architecture and is
worth visiting.

Jinnnah great leader than Gandhi, Nehru: Wolpert

ISLAMABAD: Terming Quaid-e-Azam great leader than Gandhi and Nehru, renowned American scholar
Professor Stanley Wolpert Sunday said Jinnah stood for justice and fair play.

In a lecture on Quaid-e-Azam, Wolpert said the best way to pay homage to Jinnah is "to act on his words and
turn Pakistan into one of the greatest nations of the world." Wolpert, who currently teaches at the University of
California, Los Angles, is also author of a number of research books on South Asian leaders, freedom
movement and its history, including Quaid-e- Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah.

"At the time of partition Gandhi told Lord Mountbatten that only Muhammad Ali Jinnah can stop the bloodshed."
He said this speaks volume of the Quaid's qualities. Quaid-e-Azam was for following a policy of promoting,
goodwill, harmony, fairplay and reciprocity, he added. Wolpert said founder of Pakistan was an outstanding
barrister and an honest politician.

Tracing the evolution of the Quaid as a political leader, Professor Wolpert stated that he hated corruption,
nepotism and jobbery. Following principles of the Quaid, the Professor said, Pakistan can be turned into a
great nation by for people. "He believed in working for the well being of the masses and the poor, equal rights
and principles for all and no discriminations between communities."

He said Quaid-e-Azam had urged women to join independence movement and was in favor of giving
opportunities to women to enter into political life.

Answering several questions, Professor Stanley Wolpert said Quaid-e-Azam was for "Pan Islamism" but his
life and health did not permit him to put his ideas into practice after the emergence of Pakistan.

He pointed out that Quaid-e-Azam always stated firmly that Muslims in South Asia are not a minority but a
separate nation. He refuted Khan Abdul Wali Khan's allegations that the Quaid was a British agent, or
Pakistan was British plan. The American scholar said though he did not read Khan Abdul Wali Khan's book
titled "Facts are Facts," in his opinion Quaid-e-Azam was a man of principles and not agent of any one.

Answering another question, Professor Stanley said, "it is in the interest of both Pakistan and India and the
world that the Kashmir issue is solved through peaceful means."

Finance Minister Sartaj Aziz in with remarks draw a balance sheet of Pakistan achievements and failures, and
urged the younger generation to realize their responsibilities of the national and make Pakistan strong.

He said Pakistan achieved progress in industrial and agriculture sectors and its living standard is higher than
countries in South Asia. The country's defense is strong and it can manufacture light aircraft, tank and missiles.
As far the failures, he said, "we have lost half of the country and failed to build up our socio-economic
institutions."

Earlier introducing the guest, Minister for Information Mushahid Hussain Sayed paid glowing tributes to
Professor Stanley for writing comprehensive biography of Quaid-e-Azam.

This section has been taken from Pakistan News Service. Please visit their site at www.paknews.org.pk

Early Years....
Quaid-e-Azam, Muhammad Ali Jinnah was born on 25th December 1876 at Vazeer
Mansion Karachi, was the first of seven children of Jinnahbhai, a prosperous merchant. After
being taught at home, Jinnah was sent to the Sindh Madrasasah High School in 1887. Later
he attended the Mission High School, where, at the age of 16, he passed the matriculation
examination of the University of Bombay. On the advice of an English friend, his father decided
to send him to England to acquire business experience. Jinnah, however, had made up his mind
to become a barrister. In keeping with the custom of the time, his parents arranged for an early
marriage for him before he left for England.

In London he joined Lincoln's Inn, one of the legal societies that
prepared students for the bar. In 1895, at the age of 19, he was
called to the bar. While in London Jinnah suffered two severe
bereavements--the deaths of his wife and his mother.
Nevertheless, he completed his formal studies and also made a study of the British political
system, frequently visiting the House of Commons. He was greatly influenced by the liberalism of
William E. Gladstone, who had become prime minister for the fourth time in 1892, the year of
Jinnah's arrival in London. Jinnah also took a keen interest in the affairs of India and in Indian
students. When the Parsi leader Dadabhai Naoroji, a leading Indian nationalist, ran for the
English Parliament, Jinnah and other Indian students worked day and night for him. Their efforts were crowned with success,
and Naoroji became the first Indian to sit in the House of Commons.

When Jinnah returned to Karachi in 1896, he found that his father's
business had suffered losses and that he now had to depend on
himself. He decided to start his legal practice in Bombay, but it took
him years of work to establish himself as a lawyer.

It was nearly 10 years later that he turned toward active politics. A
man without hobbies, his interest became divided between law and
politics. Nor was he a religious zealot: he was a Muslim in a broad
sense and had little to do with sects. His interest in women was also
limited to Ruttenbai--the daughter of Sir Dinshaw Petit, a Bombay
Parsi millionaire--whom he married over tremendous opposition from
her parents and others. The marriage proved an unhappy one. It was
his sister Fatima who gave him solace and company.

Entry Into Politics....
Jinnah first entered politics by participating in the 1906 Calcutta session of the Indian National Congress, the party that
called for dominion status and later for independence for India. Four years later he was elected to the Imperial Legislative
Council--the beginning of a long and distinguished parliamentary career. In Bombay he came to know, among other important
Congress personalities, Gopal Krishna Gokhale, the eminent Maratha leader. Greatly influenced by these nationalist politicians,
Jinnah aspired during the early part of his political life to become "a Muslim Gokhale." Admiration for British political
institutions and an eagerness to raise the status of India in the international community and to develop a sense of Indian
nationhood among the peoples of India were the chief elements of his politics. At that time, he still looked upon Muslim
interests in the context of Indian nationalism.

But, by the beginning of the 20th century, the conviction had been growing among the Muslims that their interests demanded
the preservation of their separate identity rather than amalgamation in the Indian nation that would for all practical purposes be
Hindu. Largely to safeguard Muslim interests, the All-India Muslim League was founded in 1906. But Jinnah remained aloof
from it. Only in 1913, when authoritatively assured that the league was as devoted as the Congress to the political
emancipation of India, did Jinnah join the league. When the Indian Home Rule League was formed, he became its chief
organiser in Bombay and was elected president of the Bombay branch.

"Ambassador of Hindu-Muslim unity." Jinnah's endeavours to bring about
thepolitical union of Hindus and Muslims earned him the title of "the best
ambassador of Hindu-Muslim unity," an epithet coined by Gokhale. It was
largely through his efforts that the Congress and the Muslim League began to
hold their annual sessions jointly, to facilitate mutual consultation and
participation. In 1915 the two organisations held their meetings in Bombay
and in 1916 in Lucknow, where the Lucknow Pact was concluded. Under
the terms of the pact, the two organisations put their seal to a scheme of
constitutional reform that became their joint demand vis-à-vis the British
government. There was a good deal of give and take, but the Muslims
obtained one important concession in the shape of separate electorates,
already conceded to them by the government in 1909 but hitherto resisted by
the Congress.

Meanwhile, a new force in Indian politics had appeared in the person of Mohandas K. Gandhi. Both the Home Rule League
and the Indian National Congress had come under his sway. Opposed to Gandhi's Non-co-operation Movement and his
essentially Hindu approach to politics, Jinnah left both the League and the Congress in 1920. For a few years he kept himself
aloof from the main political movements. He continued to be a firm believer in Hindu-Muslim unity and constitutional methods
for the achievement of political ends. After his withdrawal from the Congress, he used the Muslim League platform for the
propagation of his views. But during the 1920s the Muslim League, and with it Jinnah, had been overshadowed by the
Congress and the religiously oriented Muslim Khilafat committee.

When the failure of the Non-co-operation Movement and the emergence of Hindu revivalist movements led to antagonism and
riots between the Hindus and Muslims, the league gradually began to come into its own. Jinnah's problem during the following
years was to convert the league into an enlightenedpolitical body prepared to co-operate with other organisations working for
the good of India. In addition, he had to convince the Congress, as a prerequisite for political progress, of the necessity of
settling the Hindu-Muslim conflict.

To bring about such a rapprochement was Jinnah's chief purpose during the late 1920s and early 1930s. He worked toward
this end within the legislative assembly, at the Round Table Conferences in London (1930-32), and through his 14 points,
which included proposals for a federal form of government, greater rights for minorities, one-third representation for Muslims
in the central legislature, separation of the predominantly Muslim Sindh region from the rest of the Bombay province, and the
introduction of reforms in the north-west Frontier Province. But he failed. His failure to bring about even minor amendments in
the Nehru Committee proposals (1928) over the question of separate electorates and reservation of seats for Muslims in the
legislatures frustrated him. He found himself in a peculiar position at this time; many Muslims thought that he was too
nationalistic in his policy and that Muslim interests were not safe in his hands, while the Indian National Congress would not
even meet the moderate Muslim demands halfway. Indeed, the Muslim League was a house divided against itself. The Punjab
Muslim League repudiated Jinnah's leadership and organised itself separately. In disgust, Jinnah decided to settle in England.
From 1930 to 1935 he remained in London, devoting himself to practice before the Privy Council. But when constitutional
changes were in the offing, he was persuaded to return home to head a reconstituted Muslim League.

Soon preparations started for the elections under the Government of India Act of 1935. Jinnah was still thinking in terms of
co-operation between the Muslim League and the Hindu Congress and with coalition governments in the provinces. But the
elections of 1937 proved to be a turning point in the relations between the two organisations. The Congress obtained an
absolute majority in six provinces, and the league did not do particularly well. The Congress decided not to include the league
in the formation of provincial governments, and exclusive all-Congress governments were.