KARACHI: A function was held at the Quaid-e-Azam House Museum (Flagstaff House) on Sunday for the purpose of honouring, Lt-Gen Humayun Aziz, the former Commander of the 5 Corps. Among the distinguished guests present at the event were the Chief Minister of Sindh, and the great grandnephew of Quaid-e-Azam.
Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah, the chief guest, recounted the occasion where a memorandum of understanding (MOU) was signed between Government of Sindh, the Jinnah Society, and the Karachi Council on Foreign Relations (KCFR).
The CM said that it was Lt-Gen Humayun Aziz who gave him the idea to establish an Institute of Nation Building (INB) at Flagstaff House, and he expressed that he was very glad that this initiative was in the hands of very passionate people. He said that the Sindh government would readily help INB with any financial, legal, or administrative issues. He said that there was an urgent need to go back to the vision of Quaid-e-Azam and take lessons on solving issues faced by our nation. Lt-Gen Humayun Aziz, the guest of honour on the occasion, expressed the regret that his generation had been unable to pass on the lessons and morals taught by their parent’s generation which had created Pakistan.
He said that over time our nation had lost sense of their identity. The spirit of being a Pakistani, and our history, were obfuscated over time. He said that there was a need to engage with the younger generation through the medium (s) they feel most engaged with, which include: video, pictures, talks and oral histories instead of just textual information. He added that there was no better place to take up this initiative than the very house where the Jinnahs lived.
He thanked the CM for welcoming and encouraging the project, and labelled him the prime mover of this initiative. He said that he had noticed that visitors to the Museum were infrequent and seldom formed strong impressions of the place; he said that, God willing, this was about to change. The great grandnephew of Quaid-e-Azam, Liaquat Merchant, thanked the Lt-Gen Humayun Aziz, the Chief Minister and Vice-Chairman of INB Ikram Sehgal for helping establish the institute.
He underscored the need for continuous support from the Sindh government. He said the institute will invite students, speakers, and parliamentary leaders and inculcate a sense of responsibility and leadership like that of our founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah. Jinnah possessed public honour and private integrity, and we must be as such. Vice Chairman of INB, Ikram Sehgal, and Chairman KCFR (Karachi Council on Foreign Relations) emphasized that problem solving needed passion and teamwork. He called Lt-Gen Humayun Aziz very passionate and visionary, and called Murad Ali Shah the finest Chief Minister of Sindh for being so helpful. He called on the Chief Minister for his help in solving bureaucratic bottlenecks that impede even trivial matters in the course of this initiative. The event was moderated by the Secretary-General of INB, Commodore Sadeed Malik (retd), who while introducing the CM had said that our chief minister was the only one who was selected for an engineering college in the UK on merit and scholarship and is the first Jinnah scholar to head this province. He also informed that and audio/visual centre, a state of the art auditorium and a library with Quaid e Azam’s name shall be established at INB at Quaid-e-Azam House Museum. INB will hold meetings to be televised live globally, addressing the younger generation of Pakistanis.—PR
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021