Jinnah’s family barely survives in Quaid’s city
Jinnah’s family barely survives in Quaid’s city
The old man was running frantically towards a public bus, holding flowers in his one hand. He grabbed after some
effort iron bar, jumped on footboard and finally landed in the bus. Exhausted and tired, he was looking disoriented;
after a while he managed to breathe normally, since the bus was full of passengers, he kept standing. Every time it
took any turn, he twisted with the bus. I recognized him instantly: the old frail man was great grand son of Father of
the Nation, Quaid-I-Azam, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, Mohammad Aslam Jinnah.
Aslam is struggling with life in a city where his great grand father was born and buried. He makes no complaint as he commutes back and forth in public transport. This city has more than 1.5 million vehicles; there is none for the poor relatives of Quaid-I-Azam, who bestowed this nation with every luxury one can imagine.
Aslam ‘s wife is suffering from cancer, she had surgery and she needs medicines worth many thousand every month. He is self- respecting man; he can never ask for any favour. Hence quietly he lives on the edge with his family in a two room rented flat in North Nazimabad. The only man who helped this family without asking was Mohammad Mian Soomro, the Senate Chairman. He arranged for the operation of Aslam’s wife. Mohammad Aslam is poor and broken relative of Jinnah Family. Some rich fellows refuse to acknowledge their existence and challenge their claim of Jinnah’s kin. This is wholly unfair and unjustified.
Mohammad Aslam never wants any share in the property left over by Quaid-I-Azam, he just wants to show to the
world he is after material things, and he is content with life. His resources are terribly meager; his family hardly
survives on what he earns. He supplies homemade paper bags to scores of shopkeepers in the old city area, where his great grand father was born. His wife is sick while daughter is mentally deranged; his sister Khurshid Begum lives in Golimar neighbourhood. She lost her only son, Sikandar Jinnah, after he was tortured to death in Soldier Bazaar police station. That death perhaps shook the whole city except Nawaz Sharif and his burly men. After almost a decade has passed, Khurshid Begum is still struggling to secure justice and bring those policemen to the books who allegedly murdered her son.
This is tragic and pathetic, every now and then, Jinnah’s family commutes to city court where they ponder on this
case for hours, then another hearing is usually fixed. This happens almost in every hearing no judgement is
expected in the near future. The family pays expenses for travel and stay at the court. They wait and wait and wait
for the justice, which they hope to get in their lifetime.
The only favour, authorities have done to Aslam Jinnah is the provision of a car, which takes his family back and
forth to Quaid’s mausoleum on the national days including 23rd March, 14rh August, 25th December and 11th
September. This is usually an uphill task for Aslam. He goes to protocol department of Sindh Government, books
car for the day and comes back while on his way back he buys flowers to lay on Quaid’s mausoleum When I saw him last Wednesday, he was going back to his house after buying flowers. On national days, Aslam usually wears black sherwani; this has become old and wrinkled like his face. He never minds atrocities of life. ‘I accept this as my fate. I have no regret. One thing is sure I will never ask for any favour from anybody.’ Aslam and his family memebrs adorn front and back pages of national newspapers and news items on various TV channels. This is the only luxury this family enjoys, so far.
What can be done for Aslam and his sister Khurshid, who barely survive in this largely brutal and cruel Pakistan,
where those who were deadly against the country minted money and got away with it. Even now the opponents of
Pakistan Ideology thrives well while the Founder’s family suffers silently in agony and pain.
The Governor of Sindh, Dr Ishratul Ibad should find some time from his busy schedule to visit Jinnah’s family. He
has done so much for the neglected poets, writers, journalists and artists. How could he ignore the family, which has done so much for this country.
The plight of Aslam Jinnah and his sister Khurshid Begum deserve real attention by all. They should not be left to
suffer, mainly because they are poor and helpless. If they will get any justice is anybody’s guess.
Aslam Jinnah ‘s destination had arrived; he stood on footboard for a while. He begged conductor to stop the bus at
bus stop. He smiled, ‘don’t worry Chacha, it will stop.’ The driver merely slowed the bus, Aslam Jinnah quickly
jumped. He staggered for a while but he did not let flowers to drop. Those flowers he laid on Quaid’s mausoleum on
23rd March 2006. Another national day passed by as Jinnah’s family suffers silently. This is their fate, perhaps.
Source: The Nation
selfish! arent we?
It is sad to read this article and what hurts most is that no one really seems to care. The government should atleast provide a dignified life to the only surviving family of the father of the nation.
Can we all get together and start a trust fund for the family?
Check this out:
http://www.chowrangi.com/military-inc.html
Moving!! but moved we are not!!
Our true national heroes and their families rot, while hypocrites, terrorists and brutal cads from this country enjoy sumptuous lifestyles on foreign soil at the expense of these heroes and the common man!!
Well !!!
my views may be provoking to many of you guys!!!
But I have to express it!
with all due respect to Quaid-e-Azam M.A.Jinnah! This is a “democratic” country ! and each and every citizen is equal !! or atleast should be equal in the eyes of the government!! they are common Pakistanis and should be treated like one!!!
My salute to Muhammad Aslam Jinnah for maintaining low profile and not exploiting his relation with Qaud-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah !
Dead Nation!
thats what we are !!!
A “democratic” country? Syed you got to be kidding me? Sure, on the face of it, but how is it that some of your “ordinary citizens” are treated differently in this country? Just cause their father is some big shot or their unlce is in the govt they skip lines or even have police standing outside their houses, where as those officers are wasted resources. While kids are being kidnapped and women are being rapped these ordinary citizens are hogging your country. Open your eyes, and as for Mohd Aslam Jinnah the least the ppl of Pakistan or our so called democratic govt can do is give them a helping hand. You might have heard of appreciation. He was the father of our nation, we have destroyed his dream the least we can do is protect his family. Or maybe your one of them? The day we can proudly stop corruption in our country maybe honest ppl like Aslam would not be struggling, maybe his sister would not have to seek justice. Till the day that happens none of us are equal citizens, we are all prioritized. By whom and how, I do not know.
It won’t really take us long to reach the top spot in Failed Nations of the World. Jinnah’s family will probably go down with the rest of the Pakistan in the coming decade or so thanks to the Islamic Extremism that Mr Zia gifted us back in 80s. Their agony and pain will end with the pain of the rest of the nation… soon, real soon.
yeh blogs ki awaaz kahi suni bhi jaati hai?
Hahaha… Sameer… yaar lagta hai tumnay dil say likha hai. Aray lalay yahan tu kisi bhi cheez ki awaz kaheen nahe suni jati. Yeh tu phir blog hai. Government kay idaron main jakar pocho “BLOG KIA HOTA HAI” they’ll probably think of it as a name of some food or some vegetable!
The only direct descendant of Jinnah (Nusli Wadia) is leading a good life in Bombay. These Karachi relatives are probably related to Jinnah through his siblings and/or uncles-aunts.
http://mumbai.metblogs.com/archives/2007/07/the_face_of_mumbai.phtml
“Rakesh Mishra believes in God but doesn’t believe in leaving it to the divine powers to coming to his rescue when calamity strikes.” ,
:-) lolzzz!!!!!
I also learned the hard way to never put too much faith in people.We are a nation of Tamashbeens with immature behaviours . I’m reading this post with tears rolling down my eyes and trying to nullify the grief with sips of cold coffee.If Quaid’s family is treated like this no one else has the right to complain.
Great nation, great people . First they kill their leaders and then weep over the corpses to prove their love and patriotism.
To continue with Balma’s point, as far as I know, Jinnah only had one daughter whose son Nusli Wadia is very well-off and lives a luxurious life in Bombay. I’m not sure how Aslam Jinnah would be the Quaid’s great-grandson….perhaps a great-grandnephew or something along those lines. Please correct me if I’m wrong.
Balma: What has that got to do with anything?
My point was that we should not get too emotional on these topics. Tipu Sultan’s descendants are driving cycle rickshaw in Calcutta. Bahadur Shah II Zafar’s great grand daughter was a librarian at a Dehli library in 1980s. Great grand son and daughter of Navab of Bhopal thoomkay lagaa rahae hai’n in Bombay film industry. A grandson of Navab of Bhopal was Pakistan’s foreign secretary for a while. Nizam’s grandson who is also the grandson of last Caliph in Istanbul is the biggest (or one of the biggest) landowner in Australia. His other brother died of Aids in Australia (rumor has it).
I mean so what if Jinnah’s great grandson has to travel on bus: 2K, 7H, or 11B kay bhee apnay mazay hai’n!
about Nusli Wadia its amazing that how he claims the Jinnah Residence as his when Mohammad Ali Jinnah disowned her daugther when she married a christian
Ahmed, she married a Parsi – not a Christian.
While I agree that in a democratic society no one, including the family members of the country’s founder, should receive special treatment, I doubt anyone truly believes that we live in a democratic society and that is what makes this a shameful situation.
I Agree!
even I know practically whats happening in Pakistan is not democratic! So does it mean that we have to shun the remaining rules of Democracy tooo!
Remember, Some is better then none!
@original-faisal
yeah you right ! i think Muhammad Aslam Jinnah is not descendant of Qauid-e-Azam , but his relative of some kind!
I’m still dating Ness Wadia: Preity Zinta (Indian Actress)
* Ness Wadia is the great grand son of Mohammad Ali Jinnah, founder of Pakistan.
How dare he?
@Zee
hahaha bhai i thought kah ager khuch kahne sunnay se koi prompt action ho tou insaan khuch likhe bhi by the way you are right isi leye i think kah Blog kah bajaye is ka name hona chaye “logoon kah dil ki bharaas”
These are the kinds of posts which Karachi Metro Blog really needs, well done Khurram, thanks for the work out,these posts tells us about the real image of Karachi, we really needs few others posts like that.
AHMAD: Jinnah had himself married a parsi, 24 years younger than him at that, Ratibai. However he promptly ex-communicated his daughter when Dina followed her father’s footsteps.
where this great grand son of Father of
the Nation, Quaid-I-Azam, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, came from? The only known grand son of Father of
the Nation, I know lives in bombay and is a very rich man…
Mr Jinnah’s and Ruttie’s daughter Dina married Neville Wadia, a Parsi industrialist in Bombay. They divorced later. Dina has a son called Nusli and he has two sons with his catholic wife Maureen – Jeh and Ness.
Also there are other Jinnah relatives in Karachi who may or should help out this guy. For example, descendants from Shireen Jinnah and Ahmad Jinnah (sister and brother of M. A. Jinnah). They used to come on TV every 25th Dec type of event. Then there is Liaquat Merchant who writes in Dawn once in a while.
Also I personally know couple of other Jinnah relatives, both PhDs, and both overseas, but from Jinnah’s mother’s side. Considering widely practiced cousin marriages among Muslims, probably Jinnah’s parents were cousins and therefore they are probably all related.
As regards to Jinnah’s assets, lots of history books have details on his will. I don’t remember exactly, some of it was supposed to go to Sind Madrassa Islam (I doubt they got it) and some of it was supposed to go to Aligarh Muslim University (I am absolutely sure they never got a paisa). All the money is in some trust. THe Bandra House (Bombaby) was probably the reason Jinnah’s got Flag Staff House in Karachi as exchange (claim / custodian in post 47 Pak/India).
Also, Indian govt had a rule that anyone who will migrate to Pakistan, that person’s property will belong to the Indian Govt – so by that logic Bandra House went to Indian Govt. That is, even Nusli Wadia can’t get it. I don’t know why Pakistani govt keeps insisting on getting that house for its consulate. Sub jerks hai’n iss liyae.
This was also the reason some of Bhutto’s property was confiscated in India, and Bhutto being Bhutto claimed that he was still an Indian Citizen in 1950’s (yes, 1950s ). He was a chakaree guy. Baitee bhee itnee hee chakree hae, and on top of that baiTi kambakht stupid bhee hai.
I really cried while reading this post. No one can do anything for this country. GOD Help US
sad really…. Is all I can say there are people like Mr. Aslam and then we have people who goto London just to attend a stupid meeting with no end results… While the country and its people suffer…Arrrrrrrrrgh
a short documentary from aaj tv which i uploaded on youtube. this shows how the family of aslam jinnah is going thru poverty.
plz check it out..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIL235cb61o
***************** THIS IS A HOAX *******************
THERE IS NO GRANDSON OF QAID-E-AZAM MY THE NAME OF Mohammad Aslam Jinnah.
PLEASE READ THIS ARTICLE ” http://www.dawn.com/2004/03/25/nat28.htm “
Actually we are very selfish, still we are fighting that wethere quaid-e-azam was muslim or not also all knows that we are claiming what pakistan done for us but we dont know that in pakistan we are live independantly, if we see inidian muslims they are still living a life of terror.But one day we know the value of independance and we placed Quaid-e-Azam to his original position, salute to Quaid-e-Azam.
@ Murtaza!
Who said anything about Jinnahs religous life ???
The discussion going on here is about the relatives of Jinnah ! Which I believe should not get special attention, because they are also common citizen of Pakistan!
I fell proud of Mr Aslam Jinnah ! That he did not exploited his relation to the Qauid for his personal gain !!
Bravoo!
:)
We have already discussed in this thread that there is no direct descendant of Jinnah, except children and grand children of Dina Wadia. they are all filthy rich and don’t take tains or buses in Bombay.
Other than that, there are hundreds of Jinnah’s relative in Karachi (incl Nazimabad, Clifton, and Gulshan Areas).