July 22, 2003	Tuesday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 21, 1424

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ISLAMABAD, July 21: Senior adviser to the prime minister Syed Sharifuddin Pirzada has said the career of Madar-i-Millat Ms Fatima Jinnah was path-making years during the independence struggle.

He was speaking at a two-day National Madar-i-Millat Conference organized at the National Institute of Historical and Cultural Research Centre of Excellence at the Quaid-I-Azam University on Monday.

He presided over the event in which Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad was the chief guest.

Mr Pirzada said Quaid-i-Azam had duly acknowledged the contributions of his sister in the freedom struggle. He quoted the Quaid as saying that “Fatima Jinnah gave encouragement, solace and strength to me at dark times when we were face-to- face with a great revolution and ready to face bullets, and even death. She never said a word, on the contrary she encouraged me.”

He said Ms Jinnah was looking after the Quaid as would do a mother, and the Quaid trusted her implicitly and never issued any statement until he read it to her. Mr Pirzada revealed that the description occurring in Hector Bolitho’s book about Jinnah were written by his now deceased wife, Rafia Sharif, and were passed on to the British author by Ms Jinnah. Referring to her speeches during the election campaign in 1965, he mentioned democracy, women participation in national affairs and curb, control and checking corruption as important contents of the speeches.

“Her election campaign covered both the then East and West Pakistan, and it was significant that the train in which she journeyed in Bengal was named Freedom Train by the East Pakistani journalists.” Khwaja Nazimuddin, Maulana Bhashani, Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan were among those who went to thank Ms Jinnah on Sept 16, 1964, for her acceptance of the five combined opposition parties’ request to contest the election against Gen Ayub Khan.

“Many of the events which have been witnessed in the country since that time could have been avoided if Ms Jinnah had won the election,” he added.

In his message, Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali appreciated NIHCR’s efforts to bring together scholars from all parts of the country for the event in memory of Ms Jinnah, who took special interest in encouraging women, particularly the young ones, to participate in every field of life.

The prime minister mentioned the government’s objective for declaring the year 2003 as the Year of the Madar-i-Millat.

He spoke of the opportunities that were ahead for women with their active association in parliament, provincial assemblies and local bodies to work for promoting knowledge about Madar-i-Millat as well as her contributions in the making of Pakistan.

The message was read out by Daira secretary-general Dr Ghazanfar Mehdi, who called the attention of the information minister to the wealth of Ms Jinnah’s speeches made during the election campaign in 1965, which were to be found in the central production wing of Radio Pakistan and should be collected and published.

Prof Dr Rashid Ahmad Khan of the Punjab University and a host of scholars from Bahawalpur, Jamshoro, Lahore, Karachi, Multan, Peshawar and Azad Kashmir were also present.

Sheikh Rashid said at the inaugural session that Ms Jinnah possessed an unusual personality and he had the honour to have been associated with her election campaign in the 1965 presidential election. He said he was incarcerated and carried to jail with the election symbol of lantern of the Madar-i-Millat, which made front-page news at that time.

He said during the year celebrations, a train would be launched from Rawalpindi on the Independence Day, which would be inaugurated by the prime minister.

He said he would be happy if the volumes of speeches of Ms Jinnah were published by that time for presentation to the prime minister. He assured the NIHCR director that he would provide funds necessary for completion of the task. The university vice-chancellor, UAG Isani, welcomed the scholars.

“No people can move forward and claim greatness unless they are cognizant of their roots, and Ms Jinnah’s life falls in the category of those who have nurtured the nation’s roots,” Prof Isani said.

Earlier, NIHRC director Dr Riaz Ahmad said his centre, which was established in 1973 as an adjunct of the Quaid-i-Azam University, had returned to the university’s fold.

He said he was busy planning an appropriate building for the NIHRC. The university had granted ten acres of land for the purpose. Dr Riaz said his centre had printed the hitherto unpublished message of Ms Jinnah issued during 1948-1967 as well as another book in Urdu encapsulating articles published in national newspapers.

The first Urdu biography of Ms Jinnah, written by Dr Hamdani, had again been reprinted, he said. In addition to the inaugural session held on Monday and the concluding session scheduled for Tuesday evening, the national conference will have six working sessions.

These are Madar-i-Millat, Quaid Azam and Pakistan Movement; Fatima Jinnah, Quaid-i-Azam and Kashmir; Madar-i-Millat on national and regional issues; Madar-i-Millat on social and women development; Madar-i-Millat and presidential election, and Madar-i-Millat on Islam, democracy and humanity.

Prof Sharif al Mujahid will present formulations of the conference in the concluding session.—Jonaid Iqbal