KARACHI, May 19: The Quaid-i-Azam Academy has failed to prepare a biography of Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah despite the fact that 26 years ago it was set up to “undertake, organize and promote research on cultural, religious, literary, linguistic, social, economic and political aspects of the Pakistan Movement, and life and works of the Quaid-i-Azam”.
Sources told Dawn that the Quaid-i-Azam Academy had been without a director since March 2000.
The Quaid-i-Azam Academy was formally established on Jan 9, 1976, through a federal government resolution. The executive committee for birth centenary celebrations, at its first meeting held in November 1975, had decided to set up a high-powered research body called the Quaid-i-Azam Academy. In 1979, a 3,337-square-foot building was purchased on M. A. Jinnah Road opposite the Quaid-i-Azam’s mausoleum, where after completion of the required renovation and repair work, the academy was housed.
The sources said every year the Quaid-i-Azam Academy did not use Rs4 million allocated by the government.
“The annual grant for the Quaid-i-Azam Academy is about Rs6.5 million. The amount spent on salaries etc., comes to Rs2.4 million. The remaining grant remains unutilized.”
The sources explained that unlike other government departments whose grant lapsed if not used, the Quaid-i-Azam Academy invested the remainder of the grant.
The return on the investment went towards a publication fund.
During the past 26 years, the Quaid-i-Azam Academy has published 22 books in English, 22 in Urdu, nine in Sindhi, five in Balochi, five in Pushto and one in Punjabi.
The main hall of the Quaid-i-Azam Academy on M.A. Jinnah Road is easily one of the noisiest places in the city. As the research officers pored over tomes in the hall, D.A. Pirzada said that at least 12 research officers were required to study various aspects of the Pakistan Movement and the Quaid-i-Azam. At present, only four research fellows worked at the Quaid-i-Azam Academy, he added.
Himself a research fellow, Mr Pirzada joined the Quaid-i-Azam Academy in 1983. He said he would soon retire. “The job of a research fellow is not pensionable. They retire at Grade 17 or 18 because there is no post above them. They do not get any medical allowance.”
The first floor of the Quaid-i-Azam Academy building houses a library which contains about 30,000 books, rare pamphlets, microfilms and photocopies historical documents. Some historical documents include Quaid-i-Azam Papers (5-1354 files), Archives of Freedom Movement (624 volumes), Shamsul Hasan Collection (29 volumes), The Transfer of Power (12 volumes), Sardar Patel’s Correspondence (10 volumes), Indian Legislative Assembly’s debates (1921-1947), Simon Commission Report (17 volumes), Keesings Contemporary Archives (1931-1992) and The Indian Historical Quarterly (39 volumes).
The library also contains the micro-films of pre-partition newspapers, such as Civil and Military Gazette (1873- 1963), Morning News (1942-1953), Pioneer (1895-1933), Mofussilite (1848-1873), Indian Public Opinion (1866-1876), Tribune (1903- 1955), Dawn, Star of India (1932-1948), Statesman (1925-1941), Hamdard (1913- 1925) and Comrade (1911-1926).
The sources, however, said that the two photocopiers of the Quaid-i-Azam Academy had broken down some time back.
