14 June 1948: Quaid-e-Azam addresses Staff College in Quetta

Pages from history: this account of a day before the launch of Roznama Atemad (October 1970) has been compiled from available historical sources.

Monday, 14 June 1948. A cool morning in Quetta, far from the heat of Karachi. Governor General Muhammad Ali Jinnah, whose ill health is no longer hidden from those close to him, arrives at the Command and Staff College with his sister, Fatima Jinnah. The college’s official history gives 14 June 1948 as the date of the visit. The college officers are seated before him.

Quetta in summer: June 1948

In June 1948 the Quaid-e-Azam and Fatima Jinnah came from Karachi to Balochistan for the cool climate, but official work went on. We have not found the exact date of their arrival in Quetta in any source. According to the official collection of speeches, he made three addresses in three days: on 13 June, in reply to a deputation of the Parsi community; on 14 June, to the Staff College officers on “Responsibilities of the defence forces”; and on 15 June, in reply to the civic address of the Quetta Municipality.

The Staff College

The Staff College, Quetta, was inaugurated on 1 June 1907. After Partition it came to Pakistan, and courses resumed on 7 July 1948. The Quaid-e-Azam came when the college was on the threshold of a new life, and as Governor General he addressed its officers.

Quetta Municipality: “the disease of provincialism”

The next day, 15 June, the municipality presented an address at the Town Hall in Quetta. In reply the Quaid-e-Azam said: “I want the Muslims to get rid of the disease of provincialism”, and “Our object should be peace within and peace without”. These quotations are translated from the English text on the website of the Quaid-e-Azam Mazar Management Board.

Ziarat Residency

After Quetta, the Quaid-e-Azam went to Karachi on 1 July and inaugurated the State Bank of Pakistan; it was his last public function. According to Wikipedia, he returned to Quetta on 6 July and soon moved to Ziarat. In Jang, Farooq Ahmed Ansari gives 1 July as the date of arrival in Ziarat, which does not fit with the Karachi event. This discrepancy has been noted for review.

The 1907 Gazetteer states that Ziarat stands at about 8,050 feet. It was selected as a sanitarium in 1883. The Residency was built in 1890–91 and was the summer headquarters of the Baluchistan Agency. The hills are covered with juniper. Present-day sources give the year of construction as 1892: a two-storey timber building with eight rooms. The Quaid-e-Azam’s room was upstairs, opposite Fatima Jinnah’s. Rina Saeed Khan wrote in Dawn that the Quaid-e-Azam would sit on the verandah and look at the juniper forest. The room was austere, with a table and a bed, and photographs of his colleagues on the wall.

The doctors and the final diagnosis

According to a dated account based on the statements of Fatima Jinnah and Colonel Ilahi Bakhsh, on 21 July the Quaid-e-Azam accepted that he needed treatment, and Colonel Ilahi Bakhsh, a Lahore physician, was summoned. Ilahi Bakhsh reached Quetta on 23 July and Ziarat the same evening. At his request Dr Siddiqui, the civil surgeon of Quetta, and the pathologist Dr Mahmood came. Tests confirmed tuberculosis. Ilahi Bakhsh called Dr Riaz Ali Shah, Dr S. S. Alam and Dr Ghulam Muhammad from Lahore, who arrived on 30 July. According to Ilahi Bakhsh’s book (1949), at the first examination the Quaid-e-Azam said, “There is nothing much wrong with me”. On hearing the diagnosis, his first question was: “Have you told Miss Jinnah?”

The world on this day

• Czechoslovakia: The National Assembly elected a new president.
• Berlin: Soviet authorities stopped coal supplies to Berlin from the British zone and closed the bridge over the Elbe. The blockade of Berlin was near.

What happened next

• 13 August 1948: The Quaid-e-Azam was brought from Ziarat to Quetta. According to Wolpert, his weight was now about 36 kg. In Quetta he stayed at the residence built in 1888 for the Chief Commissioner, which is now the Governor’s House.
• 11 September 1948: He flew from Quetta to Karachi and died the same night. This is the subject of our next page.
• The Residency as a memorial: The building was declared a national monument. Since 2006 its picture has appeared on the Rs100 note. In June 2013 its timber structure was burnt down. The Balochistan government rebuilt it from its own resources at a cost of Rs140 million, and it reopened on 14 August 2014. It is now a museum visited by thousands of people every year.

Does your family have a photograph, letter or memory of Quetta or Ziarat in 1948? Please send it to us. We will add it to this page with your name.