There is no power on earth that can undo Pakistan
Grabbing the attention towards 69 years back, when the nascent Pakistan lost its precious gem, the beacon of light got dimmed, the sparkling eyes shut down forever, when our great leader Mohammad Ali Jinnah breathed his last on Sep 11, 1948.
This was the day when the whole nation got aghast. Every façade was cold due to the grim news of Mohammad Ali Jinnah’s demise. This was a great loss for Pakistan and the news spread like wild fire.
Despite his ailing health, he never rested a moment and worked till late night on his desk dealing every bill line by line, handling office files, and preparing a hope infusing message for the nation for when Pakistan turned one on August 14, 1948. In the process, he literally worked himself to death.
His lungs were riddled with the infectious tuberculosis; anaemia didn’t spare him, and over time weakness started sapping his strength, but his resolve didn’t fade nonetheless. No one realised that the creator of Pakistan was on the verge of death. As written by Farrukh Amin, “Quaid has so many times over come the repeated illness by sheer will power.”
As Lt. Mazhar Ahmed, one of the A.D.C.s of Jinnah mournfully described his condition, and passion for work during stay at the Ziarat residency by stating, “My clearest memory of his is of his slim hands busy with papers.”
It is recounted that Quaid-e-Azam was too pale during the inauguration of State Bank of Pakistan that he was hardly audible with his recurring coughs. He was just reduced to a skeleton weighing only 70 pounds.
Even these health obstacles could not deter our beloved leader from his duty and he breathed his last in a journey back from Ziarat.
Just before an hour from his death, Col. Ilahi Baksh whispered to Jinnah, “Inshallah! You are going to live.” In reply Jinnah hardly uttered his last words, “No, I’m not”, and after that he closed his sparkling eyes and had a calm sleep but then he never woke up.
The dictum of Jinnah “Pakistan has come to stay” is a testament to his sheer will in the making of this nation state. Despite the turbulence from within and without, it stayed, and shall stay forever. The grievous cost that Mohammad Ali Jinnah inflicted on himself during the process won’t be forgotten by the Pakistani nation.
May he rest in peace. Amen
