These were the last words he spoke to anybody before he died about half an hour later. After another injection of the medicine, I said reassuringly to the Quaid-i-Azam, “Sir, we have given you an injection to strengthen you, and it will soon have effect. God willing, you are going to live.” The Quaid-i-Azam shook his head and said faintly, “No, I am not”. These were the last words he spoke to anybody before he died about half an hour later.
Excerpt from “With the Quaid-e-Azam during his last days” by Lt. Col. Ilahi Bakhsh
11 September marks the death of founder of Pakistan and one of the most influential personalities in the history of subcontinent, Muhammad Ali Jinnah.
Jinnah died on September 11, 1948, 66 years ago today.
A living and exemplary monument of Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s life is the country he created, Pakistan.
With his untiring efforts, indomitable will, and dauntless courage, he united the Indian Muslims under the banner of the Muslim League and carved out a homeland for them, despite stiff opposition from the Hindu Congress and the British Government.
Special prayers will be offered after Fajr prayers for the eternal peace of the great leader of sub-continent who created a separate homeland for the Muslims.
Government and non-government organizations have planned various programs to highlight different aspects of the Quaid’s guiding principles of ‘Unity, Faith and Discipline’ for promoting prosperity, peace and harmony in the country and to pay tributes to the Father of the Nation for his heroic struggle for an independent homeland for the Muslims.
Although the Quaid-i-Azam never rested a moment after he had become the Governor-General and literally worked himself to death, his first months were the busiest and most anxious. War in Kashmir, ill-equipped armed forces, stagnant economy, empty treasury, paralyzed administration, refugees problem, and myriads of national and international problems had taken a heavy toll of Quaid’s health.
However, it was a period of great trial and he had been unnerved, then Pakistan would have succumbed in the very hour of its birth.
But the Quaid exerted himself to the utter neglect of his health and thundered in these uncertain days, “Pakistan has come to stay”, and, as everyone knows, it stayed and shall stay. But at what grievous cost to himself.
Stanley Wolpert wrote in “Jinnah of Pakistan”
“Few individuals significantly alter the course of history. Fewer still modify the map of the world. Hardly anyone can be credited with creating a nation-state. Mohammad Ali Jinnah did all three.”
