Flagstaff House to open its doors to students once again

Published March 8, 2022
A Rangers man walks in the lawns of the Flagstaff House, also known as Quaid-i-Azam House Museum, on Monday.—Fahim Siddiqi / White Star
A Rangers man walks in the lawns of the Flagstaff House, also known as Quaid-i-Azam House Museum, on Monday.—Fahim Siddiqi / White Star

KARACHI: The Board of Management of the Quaid-i-Azam House Museum (Flagstaff House) on Monday evening shared with the media the upcoming events and developments programme for the museum.

In his welcome address, retired Commodore Sadeed Malik, secretary general of the board, introduced the members of the board to the media.

Liaquat Merchant, the senior vice chairman and chairman of the management committee, first spoke in detail about the background of the building and then said that after the 18th Amendment the building became the provincial government’s property.

When the Sindh government took over, Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah thought of doing something for it. He and the then Karachi Corps Commander Lt Gen Humayun Aziz decided that they invite Jinnah Society and the Karachi Council on Foreign Relations to come up with a proposal. The proposal was given and a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed. It all began from there. Then on April 6, 2021 the government of Sindh issued a notification ordering to make a board of management by nominating members for it. There are 18 members in it, seven of which come from the private sector.

Members of a board of management unveils plan to revamp the heritage building

Mr Merchant said work has begun and to start things off, on March 17, 18 and 19 an inter-school declamation contest will be held at the museum for which invitations have already been sent to 47 schools. Judges have been assigned for the contest, who will first select 10 children.

On March 19, the 10 children will deliver their speeches and a different set of judges will adjudicate the completion. Apart from that, he said, there will be film and talk shows at the venue, and parliamentarians and businessmen would be invited to speak on the Quaid. The emphasis would be to inform the children about the Quaid and his achievements.

Revamping plan

Vice chairman Ikram Sehgal said, “There’s no parking space around the structure. We are also looking for space for an audio-visual centre. There is a library but not of the scale that’s required. For that to happen a conceptual plan was needed, but it had restrictions [since it’s a heritage building] such as the facade shouldn’t get affected. So we looked behind the building and at our options. We decided to go down as far as we can because we can’t build a structure taller than the original, heritage building.

All over the world, car parks, museums, etc, are situated towards the lower side. Soil testing needs to be done initially. I appreciate Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah for his cooperation. The most important thing is that all work will be approved by the heritage committee. No work will be done against the laid down rules. We will not disturb the environment.”

Architect Akeel Bilgrami said, “We are the custodian of the Quaid-i-Azam House so we can’t go against the Quaid’s ideals. Ethics play a big role in those ideals. We will do nothing against the law of the land. We won’t touch the heritage property. The new construction is taking place behind it. We will try our best that during construction the original building is not affected. Soil testing will tell us how many basement we can have.”

Another member of the board, Ameena Saiyid, apprised journalists about the declamation contest to be held on March 17, 18 and 19. There will be elimination in the initial rounds and on March 19 the final event will take place, she said.

Mr Sehgal also mentioned that on March 26 Senator Waleed Iqbal, the grandson of Allama Iqbal, and Liaquat Merchant, grandson of Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, will be part of a function on the premises at which Waleed Iqbal will talk about the Quaid and Mr Merchant will talk about Iqbal.

Answering a question on the debate over the Quaid’s birthplace, Mr Merchant said his grandmother had told their family that the Quaid was born in Karachi.

Published in Dawn, March 8th, 2022

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