KARACHI, Aug 2: For students of Pakistan’s short but turbulent history, the exhibition under way at the National Museum of Pakistan at Burnes Garden featuring selected personal items of Mohtarma Fatima Jinnah, offers brief glimpses into the life of a public figure whose career was quite free from blemish, something that can hardly be said of any of the ‘leaders’ of today.

From being the confidant of Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah throughout the freedom struggle to confronting General Ayub Khan in the hopelessly flawed presidential elections of 1965, Ms Jinnah is a figure who grew from marshalling the affairs of Muslim women before and after Partition to challenging the dictator of the day.

Included in Ms Jinnah’s items are welcome addresses presented on various occasions; poetry read out in her praise as well as other, more personal items such as pouches, handkerchiefs and powder cases.

A welcome address in Urdu, colourfully framed, is on display, presented to Ms Fatima Jinnah by the Qureshi Welfare Association upon her visit to a hospital. There are several exquisite powder boxes – lacquered and painted – including an outstanding specimen painted black and orange, perhaps replicating the design of Keats’ famed Grecian urn. The other powder boxes are decorated with floral motifs, while one has a bird painted on it.

The copy of an address presented by Abdul Aziz Salaria, principal of the Government Degree College, Mirpur, Azad Kashmir on May 16, 1957, welcomes Ms Jinnah to the institute and briefs her about the history of the college, while the students of the Government Arts College, Hyderabad, also express their gratitude to Ms Jinnah for visiting the college in a document dated Jan 16, 1950.

A peculiar artwork features the picture of Ms Jinnah surrounded by doves and peacock feathers. The portrait was presented to the Madar-i-Millat by the Muslim Ladies Technology and Industrial Institute. Another photograph, taken by a now long-lost Focus Artist and Photographer, features a garlanded portrait of Ms Jinnah with a beatific smile on her face. Two brilliant, intricately designed copper alams, or standards, traditionally associated with Hazrat Abbas (AS), the standard-bearer of Karbala, are also featured. A round paperweight with ‘Khatoon-i-Pakistan’ inscribed on the inside is also on display.

As for several of Ms Jinnah’s pouches that are displayed, the lime green one which has the slogans ‘Quaid-i-Azam zindabad’ and ‘Fatima Jinnah zindabad’ spelt out by silver sequins and a dark green pouch with ‘Pakistan zindabad’ inscribed over a crescent and star, stand out in particular.

There are also some pre-Partition objects, as well as some from the country’s erstwhile east wing, that should be of interest to history buffs. For instance, there is a welcome address from the Muslim Women Association of Madura (perhaps the present Indian city of Madurai in Tamil Nadu) dated April 13, 1941, a part of which says: “Nine crores of Muslims of India, whose destiny is being moulded by your broad outlook …”

Another welcome address from 1959, printed in what is presently the Tangail district of Bangladesh, appeals to Ms Jinnah for help after a flood, while there is a framed Urdu poem presented to her by orphans upon a visit to the Sir Salimullah Yatimkhana in Islamia, Dhaka, in 1948. An undated poem is also displayed, presented by poet Nur Jehan Begum Nur in Delhi.

The famous and – in hindsight – undoubtedly sad photograph of Ms Jinnah, the Quaid and his estranged daughter Dina Wadia, is also on display.

The exhibition has been organized in honour of Mohtarma Fatima Jinnah’s birthday, which falls on July 31. It will run till August 9.—QAM