THE article by Mr. A.G. Noorani (Dawn, Jan 26) is indeed brilliant. I am sure Pakistanis were not aware of the events which took place in pre-independence India involving Mr. Jinnah and Mrs. Ruttie Jinnah.

Prominent Indian politicians and leaders expressly declared and demanded that if anybody deserved a memorial it was Jinnah, whose fine leadership and fearless courage had marked a great epoch in the public life of Bombay because he showed the spirit of leaders like Dadabhoy Nauroji and Gopal Krishna Gokhale.

These leaders raised funds for the memorial to raise a Statute of Jinnah to be placed in the Town Hall Bombay. They named the Town Hall “People’s Jinnah Memorial Hall” so that his name would be cherished forever as the great Indian who was a symbol of their true public spirit in order to acknowledge the services he had rendered not only to Bombay but to the whole of India.

Funds were raised and the Hall was inaugurated when Jinnah was forty two (42) years of age. Mr. Noorani has stated that from 1906 to 1947 Bombay witnessed Jinnah’s contribution to the Indian struggle for freedom and respect for civil liberty.

The writer has rightly stated that Jinnah is an important part of history. Pakistan is a monument to Jinnah’s tenacity and skill. India is a mute witness to his greatness. His dreams lie buried in India as well as in Pakistan. The plaque at the Hall was removed by 2018 and the name was changed.

In the same way Jinnah’s portrait was removed from the Bombay High Court Library, and Bombay University refused to accept the bequest made by Jinnah in his will of 1939 unless it was given as an anonymous donation to the University. The Administrators of the Estate of Quaid-i-Azam refused to do so.

Liaquat H. Merchant

Karachi

Published in Dawn, February 17th, 2019