Jinnah's voluminous correspondence with Congress and British leaders were not part of this treasure, which Hasan managed to bring to Pakistan through the partition holocaust.

The Shamsul Hasan Collection was so named as to distinguish it from other 'Jinnah papers.'

Hasan joined the Muslim League in 1914, and even though his position in the party hierarchy wasn't that high — he was assistant secretary of the All India Muslim League's central office — his contribution to the Pakistan movement's historical studies is enormous.

He died in 1981 and it is his son, Zahid, who has been persuaded by the compiler to hand over the priceless documents to the government for preservation and publication in book form. With rare exceptions, all the documents are in English. They relate to Jinnah's personal and political life during the period from 1942 to 1946.

The book contains a graphic description of how Hasan brought the papers to Pakistan in spite of the partition riots, how he was arrested by the Indian government because he had gone to Karachi to attend the ceremony marking the birth of the world's biggest Muslim state, how he was released and how he finally managed to bring the lot to Pakistan.

Jinnah asked to see him and enquired about the papers. When Hasan told him of his arrest by India the Quaid was deeply distressed over the attitude of the Indian leadership.

He said Indian leaders had accepted Pakistan with reservations and were trying to destroy it at the very outset. But, controlling his emotions, Jinnah said 'The Mussalmans of the subcontinent cannot be destroyed by these tactics. They have now a homeland, and with hard work they shall, InshAllah, make it powerful.'

Jinnah expressed the wish that the documents be made public 20 years after his death, so that future generations could come to know of the Herculean difficulties he faced in his struggle to give South Asian Muslims a homeland of their own.

The documents are to be published subject-wise and province-wise and will comprise 72 volumes — a daunting task indeed for the National Documentation Wing of the Cabinet Division.

This book (Vol 1-5) pertains to Punjab. The next volumes will consist of documents relating to Sindh, the NWFP, Balochistan and Kashmir, followed by papers relating to elsewhere in the subcontinent.

The appendices show the painstaking work done by the compiler, Waheed Ahmad. The book contains brief biographical sketches of the people who wrote to Jinnah or were written to, lists of Muslim, Hindu and British government and party leaders during the crucial years preceding the birth of Pakistan, a list of the 72 volumes of Shamsul Hasan Collection, a glossary of abbreviations and chronology.

The National Documentation Wing of the Cabinet Division performs a noble job by maintaining and preserving vital documents and archives relating to the freedom movement.

The book is a gold mine for future generations, as well as Pakistani and foreign scholars of the freedom movement.

The Punjab Story 1940-1947 The Muslim League and the Unionists
(archives)
Edited by Waheed Ahmad
National Documentation Wing
Government of Pakistan, Islamabad
ISBN 978-696-9411-00-7
555pp. Price not listed