ISLAMABAD: The Quaid-i-Azam Papers Cell created … in February, 1970, has completed the classification and listing of the Quaid’s papers — about 1,10,000 — and hopes to throw them open for research scholars and historians very shortly. At the same time the Cell is contacting individuals who may have papers and documents relating to the Quaid… .

Besides Mr M.A.H. Ispahani and late Nawab Siddiq Ali Khan, who had already donated their papers to the Cell, Prof A. B. A. Haleem and Mian Mumtaz Daultana have also agreed to donate their papers. A good number of pa­­pers, associated with the Quaid, are believed to have been lost due to negligence. Begum Shah Nawaz is reported to have informed the Cell that all papers of her father — relevant for the purpose — have been destroyed by white ants. She had stored them in a wooden almirah, but now “not a single paper worth the name has remained intact or in fit condition to be read or utilised”. Even among the papers that were acquired by the Government in the late sixties, a substantial number had been damaged by moth and dampness while rotting unattended in the Ministry of Information at Chaklala. — Islamabad Bureau

Published in Dawn, January 21st, 2024