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1949-1960: Political instability in Pakistan-Where was Fatima Jinnah

Meray piray bhai

you are confusing the characteristics of son/daughter-in-law with a politician.
Please do not irritate me by calling piyara or bhai because neither I am your piyara nor I am your bhai. I hate those who question and ridicule the sincerity of those who have literally given us this country where we live with our heads high. Do something equivalent and then dare to question the actions of people like Quid-Azam and Mohtarma Fatima Jinnah. Who are you and what are your achievements?

Itna chhota moonh aur itni bari baat?
 
As far as I know, she become disenchanted, like some others, with the direction Pakistan was heading towards. After Jinnah's death, the situation in Pakistan continued to worsen and Liaqat Ali Khan played a key role in this. He started Islamisation of Pakistan with his vague objectives resolution, he didn't stop the violence against Bengali and Sindhi Hindus who were not planning on leaving Pakistan and he sidelined all those who didn't agree with his vision for Pakistan. This included Fatima Jinnah who dropped out of the spotlight and her last public tour was to East Pakistan in 1954.

There is an article on Times from 1964 about Fatima Jinnah and it discusses her disenchantment with the country. Unfortunately, Times now requires a subscription so you can't read all of it. Here is a link to it:

Pakistan: Trouble with Mother

There are a few more if you search her name on Times, and they all mention what she had been up to before her resurgence.

Due to our doctored history, Liaqat Ali Khan is portrayed as Jinnah's right hand man, but this might not be the reality. Here is a summary of their relation and Fatima's involvement.

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.

669788388_6878938abe_z.jpg
 
Great thread for learning, especially for new generation like me who don't have much knowledge about this era of our national history. Power to you Sir.
 
1.Politicos always look for an icon to gather/unite under. Very well illustrated in all SA nations. In our case SHW and BKZ have proved to be more than icons. They have surpassed their father/husband in political jugglery. India's Nehru-Gandhi family. Bhutto's of Pakistan.

2. After the death of Suhrowardy there was a vacuum in the top political leadership in Pakistan's opposition ranks. The opposition elements then lobbied with FJ and lured her into accepting their symbolic leadership. I don't find any fault in FJ in all this.
 
Great thread for learning, especially for new generation like me who don't have much knowledge about this era of our national history. Power to you Sir.

Thanks. At the core of it, the thread is about asking critical questions even regarding some long held beliefs.

1.Politicos always look for an icon to gather/unite under. Very well illustrated in all SA nations. In our case SHW and BKZ have proved to be more than icons. They have surpassed their father/husband in political jugglery. India's Nehru-Gandhi family. Bhutto's of Pakistan.

2. After the death of Suhrowardy there was a vacuum in the top political leadership in Pakistan's opposition ranks. The opposition elements then lobbied with FJ and lured her into accepting their symbolic leadership. I don't find any fault in FJ in all this.


Meray bhai Jaan

#1 ---

That'ss a very good point about dynastiy/family /jagiri / feudal ownership of political parties. And FJ could have been running PML that way. But she did not.

But I do not think she had the will or energy to fight for the control of PML, or use her mighty status (if any) to form a new party and train the youth in the right way in the pro-Pakistan way, and work for political stability in Pakistan.

She remained on the sidelines when it comes to hard work of establishing and running a party.

#2 -

I respectfully disagree with suhrawarthy angle.

In 1952, he left the Muslim League to join the newly formed center-left Awami League.
Then in 1954, he (along with A. K. Fazlul Huq and Maulana Bhashani) , he led the pan-Bengali United Front alliance to a crushing defeat of PML in the 1954 East Bengal elections,

Thus any vacuum that you talk about was there in 1952,
But FJ did nothing and just sat around waiteing for 13 long years to fill that vacuum?

Nah. my dear Sir that argument is invalid.

But thank you for posting something that sounds plausible in the first glance (and only fails after deeper analysis).

Peace to you
 
As far as I know, she become disenchanted, like some others, with the direction Pakistan was heading towards. After Jinnah's death, the situation in Pakistan continued to worsen and Liaqat Ali Khan played a key role in this. He started Islamisation of Pakistan with his vague objectives resolution, he didn't stop the violence against Bengali and Sindhi Hindus who were not planning on leaving Pakistan and he sidelined all those who didn't agree with his vision for Pakistan. This included Fatima Jinnah who dropped out of the spotlight and her last public tour was to East Pakistan in 1954.

There is an article on Times from 1964 about Fatima Jinnah and it discusses her disenchantment with the country. Unfortunately, Times now requires a subscription so you can't read all of it. Here is a link to it:

Pakistan: Trouble with Mother

There are a few more if you search her name on Times, and they all mention what she had been up to before her resurgence.

Due to our doctored history, Liaqat Ali Khan is portrayed as Jinnah's right hand man, but this might not be the reality. Here is a summary of their relation and Fatima's involvement.

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.

669788388_6878938abe_z.jpg

1.An unparalleled leader of men, Jinnah never-the-less was not a good judge of character. Except Saradar Abdur Rab Nishtar, Raja Gazanafar Ali Khan and the Bengali leaders, none of the ML top brass was truly loyal either to Jinnah or his concept of a homeland for Muslims. However, the ones closer to his ears had successfully created a breach between Jinnah and the Bengali leaders. Liaqat Ali Khan, who had to be proxy-elected from a constituency in E Bengal, was the principal among these intriguers.

2. Sher e Bangla, then PM of Bengal and the and the only Muslim in British India to hold such a post, had moved the famous Lahore Resolution. He was alienated from Jinnah/ML soon. Suhrowardy was the SG of Bengal ML and the PM of Bengal when the 1946 elections were held as a referendum on Pakistan. He single-highhandedly managed to obtain a clear positive vote after working/toiling hard. But for this Bengali vote Pakistan could not have materialized. But now the letter "s" required to be removed from the LHR Resolution to give credence to obtaining Pakistan because the present day Pakistanis had voted against it. Again it was Suhrowardy who had to move the amendment in the face of strong opposition.

3. As the sitting PM of the Muslim majority province and as one who had worked so hard to achieve Pakistan, Suhrowardy deserved to be PM, not Liaqat. If that had happened, the chain of intrigues that Pakistan continues to suffer from, would have been nipped in the bud.
 
1.An unparalleled leader of men, Jinnah never-the-less was not a good judge of character..

Oh he was meray bhai Jaan he was.
But he also knew the political realities.

Do you know that he kicked out Liaqat Ali khan?
Do you know how Liaqat Ali slithered back into ML?

Peace
 

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