Adil Najam
There picture are not of very high quality, but I am very fond of them because they depict a very different side of Mohammad Ali Jinnah from the one that our official discourse allows us to see. Today, on Mr. Jinnah’s 133rd birthday, I suspect that the Quaid-i-Azam – who always preferred to be “Plain Mr. Jinnah” would have fondly welcomed these photographs rather than the rather stern ones that have been flashing on our television screens all day.
These pictures depict a side of “Plain Mr. Jinnah” that we have often ignored, and sometimes purposely tried to hide.
It is a more human side. A less camouflaged side. A side that depicts a ‘normal’ person–flaws and all–rather than a ‘perfect leader.’
It is a side that, in fact, makes Mr. Jinnah more complete than our official depictions would have him be. Without this side, he cannot be complete or be completely understood.
The picture on the top-left was taken in Bombay with his daughter Dina and his dogs; top-right is taken on a vacation in Kashmir (I believe), with Dina and Begum Liaquat Ali Khan; the third and fourth pictures may well be from the same vacation in Kashmir.
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