Zeenat Safdar Haroon was born to Haji Abdullah Haroon and Lady Nusrat Abdullah Haroon on January 21, 1928, in Karachi.
She still remembers seeing Quaid-e-AzamMuhammad Ali Jinnah at all of the All-India Muslim League (AIML) rallies she attended in years leading to the partition of British India. ButZeenatHaroon’s most memorable moments are from the AIML’s 1940 session where the party passed its Lahore Resolution. She still recalls Mr. Jinnah saying the following words, “Leave behind corruption, bribery, and nepotism, when you’re coming to Pakistan.”
Her other lasting memory of Mr. Jinnah was from the day he directed Muslim League officials to modify the party flag such that it represented Pakistan’s minorities as well. She says at that time minority communities accounted for 30 percent of the country’s population. “When the modified flag was brought to Quaid-e-Azam, he asked if the white portion was 30 percent of the flag’s area. When he was told that the area of the white portion had been set at random, he sent the flag back and asked the party to set the white portion on exactly 30 percent of the flag’s area,” she recalls.
She says Mr. Jinnah was very strict and careful about spending public money. He would ensure that public funds were never spent it on anything deemed as an excessive expense, be it tea or small snacks served at meetings. Other leaders of the AIML were no different in their concern for prudent use of funds.
Liaquat Ali Khan had refused to buy a house in Pakistan until every refugee wasprovided with a house to live in. “He eventually died without having bought a house,” she says.
Haroon also spoke about her conversations with Mr. Jinnah whom she found particularly encouraging towards young people. “He would often say that Pakistani identity should supersede all other identities for the people of Pakistan,” she says.
Haroonwas among the first few working women in Pakistan. She says Mr. Jinnah had encouraged her father to send her out forwork. “I remembered going to the Cantonment Station during the days of partition with food to welcome refugees arriving on trains from India,” she says. She says the refugees arriving on Cantt stations were often starved and left traumatised from the impact of communal violence.
She also remembers going to Jinnah hospital and volunteering to dress wounds of those injured in communal strife during partition.
She was a member of the Pakistan’s Women’s National Guard (PWNG) where women would meet and discuss politics and their projects for Pakistan’s future. As part of the National Guard, she learned how to fire guns, march in a parade and administer first aid in emergencies.
For Haroon, Quaid’s fervour and determination in those days was exceptional. He motivated and encouraged people to work for their country and reassured them that the problems facing Pakistan were only preliminary for a newly-founded country.
Published in Daily Times, July 6th , 2017.
