Jinnah and Liaquat

Jinnah and Liaquat

Dr. Ghulam Nabi Kazi

Jinnah and Liaquat – Awkward questions! Was the prime minister conniving against the Governor General?
While Liaquat Ali Khan is generally regarded as Jinnah’s right hand man, this may not be entirely true. Dr Hamida Khuhro’s biography of her father reveals that Jinnah told Mr Khuhro “The prime minister (Liaquat) is average while the remaining cabinet is below average”. They are believed to have differning opinions on the issue of minorities. When Mr Jinnah was convalescing in Ziarat, only 2-3 weeks from his death, Liaquat Ali Khan and Chaudhry Muhammed Ali arrived unannounced one evening. “Do you know why they have come” Jinnah asked his sister and dismissing one of her theories replied “They have come to see whether I will live or die”. Shortly after the visit Mr Jinnah told his physician that it did not matter whether he lived or died. When Mr Jinnah arrived in Karachi on the last day of his life (11 September 1948), an ambulance sent to him wihout fuel, which hastened his end. The Prime Minister had been adivsed by the Military Secretary of the Governor General not to come to the aerodrome. Indeed the Prime Minister reached the Governor General’s house after his soul had departed his frail body. Two pages from Miss Fatima Jinnah’s book ‘My Brother’ were censored out while his physician’s book was proscribed in 1948 only to be released in 1976 on Mr Jinah’s birth centenary. Here the two are seen easing their tension through nicotine.