What happened to the thousands of notes, instructions, guidelines, analyses of events and institutions that the Quaid-i-Azam wrote for hours daily during his stay at Ziarat?
HECTOR BOLITHO, in his book, Jinnah, writes: “On September 10, 1948, Dr Bukhsh had to tell Miss Jinnah that there was little hope of her brother living for more than a few days. Next morning, three aircraft landed nearby, including Quaid’s beautiful Viking, to which he was carried on a stretcher.”
The aircraft carrying the Quaid-i-Azam from Quetta to Karachi landed at the deserted Mauripur Airport on September 11, 1948, at 4:15pm. It was the same airport where only 13 months ago thousands of grateful Pakistanis had given him a rousing reception on his arrival from Delhi on August 7, 1947, to be sworn in as the first Governor-General of Pakistan. Surprisingly, on September 11, 1948, Pakistanis did not turn up to welcome the ailing Father of the Nation. No member of his small cabinet came to receive the Governor-General and the founder of Pakistan.
Bolitho, in his research-oriented biography, writes: “The (Quaid’s) arrival had been kept as private and secret as possible, and even the Prime Minister had been telephoned from Quetta and asked not to come to the aerodrome.”
The frail Quaid-i-Azam was transferred from the aircraft to an ambulance on a stretcher. Mohtarma Fatima Jinnah and the nurse, Sister Dunham, accompanied the Quaid-i-Azam in the ambulance on his way to the Governor House. The rickety ambulance that departed from Mauripur at about 4:30pm broke down near a crowded refugee camp. It was a hot, humid day with swarms of flies buzzing around from the filth strewn all over the place. The driver tried to restart the engine, but all his efforts failed. The ailing Quaid-i-Azam was stranded. Sister Dunham found a piece of cardboard, folded it and fanned the Quaid’s face. In the words of Sister Dunham, ‘His soul was in his eyes at that time’.
Another ambulance arrived after an agonizing hour. It brought the Quaid-i-Azam to the Governor House at 6:10pm. He passed away after four hours, at 10:20pm.”
The entire foregoing paragraph from our history appears to be an unsolved mystery. Why was the departure of the ailing Quaid-i-Azam from Quetta and his arrival in Karachi kept a secret? What was the purpose behind it? Why was his six-member cabinet along with his trusted friend and lieutenant, Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan, kept away from their leader who was on the verge of his departure from this world? Did the conspirator fear that the ailing Quaid might instruct and advise his trusted colleagues to remain vigilant of certain quarters from within the country? Was a rickety ambulance purposely sent to the airport for bringing a gravely indisposed Head of the State, the Governor-General of Pakistan, Quaid-i-Azam Mohammed Ali Jinnah?
The ambulance was not equipped with life-saving devices such as an oxygen mask and cylinder. On whose instructions was the faulty ambulance dispatched to the airport to fetch the ailing Quaid-i-Azam, that ultimately broke down near a refugee camp? Was the shocking incident ever investigated? Was someone taken to task, charge-sheeted and held responsible for the unpardonable lapse? Why did the ambulance break down on the highway near the refugee camp? Was the vehicle’s collapse intended?
Apparently, there appears a two-fold motive behind the conspiracy, if at all it was a conspiracy. It was an extremely hot and humid day. There was stinking filth and flies around the ambulance and it was suffocating inside the rickety vehicle. Sister Dunham had to open the rear door of the ambulance. Wasn’t the atmosphere around threatening enough for an ailing person to have breathed his last?
Seemingly, the vehicle’s developing fault near a refugee camp was not meaningless. The world was witness to the most ghastly riots in the subcontinent in the wake of Partition. The massacre was so frightening that the afflicted had begun questioning: Was there a need for a separate homeland for the Muslims of the subcontinent? Did Hindus and the Muslims ever annihilate each other with such impunity before when the two communities had lived together for centuries in undivided India? There arose on the scene disgruntled elements who were after the blood of the leaders responsible for the Partition that resulted in their ruination.
Just for the sake of argument, it appears the adversaries had planned that upon knowing a vehicle carrying the Quaid-i-Azam was stranded near the refugee camp, the devastated refugees would pounce upon the ambulance and smash it along with its occupants. That would have given an entirely different turn to events in the history of the subcontinent. However, it did not happen. What happened to the thousands of notes, instructions, guidelines, analyses of events and institutions that the Quaid-i-Azam, defiantly ignoring his doctor’s advice, wrote for hours daily during his stay at Ziarat? Where are his papers? The isolation of the Quaid-i-Azam during his last days in this world is an unexplained enigma.
The death of Quaid-i-Azam is shrouded in mystery. Likewise, there are mind-boggling historical mysteries that I would share with you in my next couple of columns.
