KARACHI, Jan 31: Research activities at the Quaid-i-Azam Academy have slowed down considerably over the years, with the result that its publications do not come out regularly.
Sources told Dawn that the number of research officers working at the Quaid-i-Azam Academy has come down.
"Previously, there used to be two senior research fellows, two research fellows, two junior research fellows and two research assistants. But when research officers retired or left the academy, their posts were left unoccupied by the government.
At present, there is one research officer who is also responsible for administrative matters and one full-time research fellow and a research assistant," they explained.
The sources said that for the past four years the Academy had published only the various volumes of the "Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah: The Nation's Voice", a project outsourced by the Quaid-i-Azam academy to former director-general Dr Waheed Ahmad. However, Quaid-i-Azam Academy director M. Yakub Mughal defended the performance of his academy. He said: "It is wrong to say that research activities at the Academy have slowed down.
After all, this project -- "Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah: The Nation's Voice" -- is funded by us. Besides, a couple of publications are in the pipeline," he explained.
In July 2001, the government merged the Quaid-i-Azam Academy with the Quaid-i-Azam Papers Project. The chief editor of the Quaid-i-Azam Papers Project, Dr Zawwar Hussain Zaidi, became chairman of the Quaid-i-Azam Academy.
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 Nov 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 (formerly Bunder Road) opposite the Quaid-i-Azam's mausoleum, where after completion of the required renovation and repair work, the Academy was housed.
During the past 26 years, the Quaid-i-Azam Academy has published 25 books in English, 22 in Urdu, nine in Sindhi, five in Balochi, five in Pushto and one in Punjabi. The first floor of the Quaid-i-Azam Academy building houses a library which contains about 30,000 books, rare pamphlets, microfilms and photocopies of historical documents.
Some historical documents include Quaid-i-Azam Papers (5-1354 files), Archives of Freedom Movement (624 volumes), Shamsul Hasan Collection (29 volumes), The Transfer of Power (12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).
