KARACHI: There was an unusual activity at the Flagstaff House here on Thursday as its doors were opened to the public for an exhibition of over 30 historic photographs organised by the archaeology department.

The pictures tell the story of the making of Pakistan with the Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah in all of them except for one which has other members of the All India Muslim League watching as he addresses a session. There are several pictures of him standing straight and tall making speeches. Others have him presiding over conferences.

The ones of him with Nawabzada Liaquat Ali Khan are significant, especially the one taken of them speaking to each other as Chaudhry Khaliquz Zaman presents the Pakistan Resolution on March 23, 1940. Amid huge gatherings, the Father of the Nation is seen waving from his car or looking out from his vehicle’s sunroof. There is also one photograph of him on top of a truck amid a huge procession in Delhi in 1943 reminding one of the trend of climbing on container-mounted trucks these days. But for those days, one can safely say that the crowds were genuine, not bought and the politicians selfless.

The Quaid’s photographs with Baloch political leaders are also noteworthy. There are a few of him with foreign dignitaries, too, and one with a group of Egyptian religious scholars.

THE Quaid-i-Azam with Baloch leaders.

The ones of him with favourite sister Mohtarma Fatima Jinnah and alone, too, during his younger days, tell a bit about his personality. The Quaid loved animals. There is also one taken with a Yorkshire terrier, but sadly there are none with his only child, Dina Wadia.

The exhibition drew between 150 and 200 people on Thursday. A long table in the middle of the room had red rose petals shaped in a wish on his 138th birth anniversary. Though there was a set of time lines — one starting from 1976, his birth year, to 1918 and another from 1919 to 1948, the year of his passing, the photographs on the walls needed better labelling. Not all the photographs carried a date and some had wrong spellings and bad grammar as well. For example, one photograph with Lord Mountbatten was spelt: “Lod Mount Baitan”! The ones with the Quaid-i-Azam making speeches were labelled “... on speeching pose”.

THE Quaid-i-Azam at an Independence Day dinner on August 14, 1947 in the Governor General House.

An official at the Flagstaff House, who didn’t feel comfortable having his name mentioned, said that he was glad to see over a 100 visitors on the Quaid-i-Azam’s birth anniversary. “This is a museum with no ticket at all and still we don’t see visitors here on normal days. I wish more parents would bring their children here to know the Father of the Nation better and learn more about him,” he said.

Ms Tasneem Khan, who was there with her daughters Amina and Aimen, meanwhile, pointed out that it was not easy for working parents to take their children out for such educative tours every day. “I wish our schools would arrange field trips to such places. They can include a trip to Wazir Mansion, the Quaid’s place of birth, the Quaid’s mausoleum, and his home here. It is great that the archaeology department has not put a ticket on visiting these places. I also request them to print reader-friendly brochures with information about the places with their history to be distributed among the schoolchildren who visit here,” she said.

Published in Dawn, December 26th, 2014