The Quaid-e-Azam House Museum, located at the intersection of Sharea Faisal Street and Fatima Jinnah Street, will be transformed into a nation-building institution for schools and students.
A memorandum of understanding (MoU) for this purpose was signed at the Quaid-e-Azam House Museum on February 8 by the Cultural Secretary of Sindh Ghulam Akber Laghari, President of the Liaquat H Trader Society of Jinnah, who is also the manager of the Estate of Quaid-e-Azam, and Chairman of the Council Karachi Ikram Sehgal Foreign Relations.
Formerly the Flag Building, the Quaid-e-Azam House is one of the three real estate properties of nation founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah. He had bought it before Partition. According to his will, it will be sold and proceeds distributed between the Sindh Madrasa in Karachi, the Islamia College in Peshawar and the Aligarh Muslim University in India.
The merchant, who is the grandson of one of Jinnah’s sisters, said the nation’s founder had purchased the Flag House in 1943 for his private residence. It was later sold by Merchant and Syed Hashim Raza as administrators of the Jinnah estate to the federal government in accordance with the orders of the late chief judge of the Sindh High Court Abdul Hayee Qureshi.
The order specifies the purpose for which the government will use this property, and an advisory board was formed for this purpose which includes administrators of Quaid’s estate.
Despite repeated requests and warnings to successive governments from 1985 to the time of the 18th constitutional amendments, no serious steps or actions were taken.
After the 18th amendment, this property was transferred to the Sindh government. Merchant said that Chief Minister Sindh Syed Murad Ali Shah and Secretary for Culture Laghari took a personal interest in him. He proposed to use it as a nation-building institution.
“After many meetings and discussions, the MoU was finalized and signed at the Quaid-e-Azam House, marking a historic day for Pakistan, as the Quaid-e-Azam House will now be the center of activities involving nation-building, which will be of great benefit to Pakistan and its citizens, “said Merchant.
The governing board formed for the institution consists of CM and the chief secretary as the ex-officio chairman and ex-officio co-chairman, Merchant and Sehgal as the executive vice chairman, and Commodore (retired) Sadeed A Malik as the member secretary.
Among the board members were the commander of the Karachi V Corps, city commissioner, Merchants, Sehgal, bankers Sultan Ali Allana (HBL) and Shazad Dada (UBL), Lightstone Publishers MD Ameena Saiyid, philanthropist Nadira Panjwani, architect Akeel Bilgrami, and representatives from the finance department. , education and antiques.
The council will set up a public library called the Jinnah Library at the Quaid-e-Azam House. It will set up an audio-visual center that will screen films and documentaries about Jinnah, the Pakistan Movement and other movement leaders. The council will expand the museum, which will house relics and jinnah items.
It will host educational competitions and debates, programs for high school students, art exhibitions, seminars, talk shows and other similar events for the benefit of citizens, especially the younger generation, on the aspects leading to the creation of Pakistan.
The council will hold talks on Jinnah and other Pakistani leaders, on important aspects relating to Pakistan, including foreign relations, finance, culture, education, higher studies, universities and other subjects that will benefit the country.
It will organize talks by parliamentarians, and by ambassadors, diplomats and consul generals on the development of international relations and diplomatic relations with Pakistan. The Council will set up an auditorium where students can watch and participate in plays, speeches and debate competitions in English, Urdu and Sindhi.
“In general, the council will undertake all work and activities that can contribute to nation building exercises in Pakistan by disseminating information about historical events that led to the formation of Pakistan,” Merchant said.