Mohatta Palace: some facts

From the Newspaper Published February 14, 2013

APROPOS of the report on the Sindh Assembly proceedings (Feb 9), some facts about Mohatta Palace are narrated below in order to clear the distortions in the report.

Mohatta Palace was built by Seth Shivratan Chandraratan Mohatta, a Marwari businessman, in 1927. He was a friend of Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah.

The government of Pakistan decided, just after the partition, to requisition one residence of people who owned more than one for establishing government offices.

Since Seth Mohatta owned more than one house the government decided to requisition Mohatta Palace for the offices of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Seth Mohatta immediately approached the Quaid- i-Azam and wanted him to restrain the officials concerned from requisitioning his place. The Quaid called Seth Mohatta and Syed Hashim Raza the next morning to his office.

When Hashim Raza explained to the Quaid that it is in accordance with the decision of the government, and Seth Mohatta has more than one house to live in , the Quaid looked at Mohatta and said: “What can I do for you? As I can’t interfere with their decision, which is in conformity with the policy of the government.”

The matter ended there as was personally narrated by Syed Hashim Raza who was functioning as administrator of Karachi at that time.

The government of Pakistan used Mohatta Palace for offices of the ministry of foreign affairs till the shifting of the capital to Islamabad. Then they gave it to Fatima Jinnah in lieu of her brother Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s residence in India.

Mohatta Palace became Qasr-i-Fatima and served as headquarters of her presidential election campaign against Field Marshal Ayub Khan.

After the death of Fatima Jinnah in 1967, her sister Shireen Jinnah moved to the ground floor of Mohatta Palace, living there till her death in 1980.

The premises of Mohatta Palace remained abandoned for over 10 years since 1980. The garden became a jungle and the building dilapidated. The Government of Sindh came to the rescue in 1995, bought the property and converted it into a museum after elaborate renovation.

A trust was established with an independent board of trustees to manage the property. The museum was inaugurated formally in 1999.

JALEEL BIN HAMID ZUBAIRI Karachi

Newspaper

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Khan

Feb 15, 2013 03:58am

thanks very informative, though once i use to live close this this palace and alwasy use to think what is the history behind this..thanks for charing this...from Melbourne

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Samresh

Feb 15, 2013 12:54pm

More than 90% of the properties in Karachi were owned by Hindus. Almost 75% of Lahore too. Your property is most likely to be occupied by Indian muslims only.

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hitesh

Feb 15, 2013 04:19am

When persecuting minorities they justified on the ground of system or shariah ! But when protecting them it seems there is no system no shariah exists in this republic.Its not a new phenomenon after Zia or else but since its inception.

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Dr.LP

Feb 14, 2013 08:26pm

Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah. was Gujrati from Dhoraji; will never agree to confisciticate property and more like never had meeting with Raja and Seth. The story sounds too good to be true. Gujratis are known to understand propety rights and human feelings and value of justice. Mr. jinnah could not be much different than any Gujrati. A muslim family from RAJKOT had moved to Karachi in1949. and had sold business etc and within a year came back; Tajbhai must be an advance thinker and a visioney and may have understanding of future. See value of life to-day in Karachi. Upon return from Karachi asked the buyers for his business and houses and buyers, with no profit, return them with a smile. You may check if you wish with S.Tajbhai and sons; para bazar Rajkot to see the truth. Hope this gives some understanding about human feelings and values.

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Shochi

Feb 14, 2013 11:25pm

Yes, my property in Lucknow and Delhi. That is one. Thank you Sir. Brahadir Alvais Siddique

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Cynical

Feb 14, 2013 10:50am

Can we have the names of prominent Muslims during the same period whose houses were taken over by the Government because they had more than one house. And in this particular case was the owner Seth Shivratan were paid for the palace by the Government?

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