Sindh Madressatul Islam (SMI) College Principal Dr Muhammad Ali Shaikh on Monday said that Quaid-e-Azam’s last will – written on May 30, 1939 in Bombay – has not been implemented accordingly.
While delivering a lecture on ‘Quaid-e-Azam’s Last Will and its Implementation’ organised by the SMI at its Sir Shahnawaz Bhutto Auditorium to mark ‘Quaid’s Will Day’ which falls on May 30, Shaikh said that Muhammad Ali Jinnah in his last will, written at the age of 63, had distributed his property among his sisters, daughter, brother, and also bequeathed one third of the residuary for three Muslim educational institutions in the region, Islamia College in Peshawar, Aligarh University in Bombay and the SMI in Karachi.
“… all my residuary estate including the corpus that may fall after the lapse of life interests [of the grantees] or otherwise is to be divided into three parts and I bequeath one part to Aligarh University, one part to Islamia College Peshawar and one part to Sindh Madressah of Karachi,” Shaikh quoted from the Quaid’s will.
The SMI principal added that among the residuary estate of Jinnah was the Flag Staff House, lands in Malir in Karachi and Gulberg in Lahore, and a vast area in Mauripur, Hawkesbay. In addition to them was the corpus that fell after the lapse of life interest of the grantees under the will.
“The implementation of Quaid-e-Azam’s will related to the educational institutions was delayed due to the reason that his residuary estate had not been fully collected and sold,” said Shaikh. All his residuary estate was sold by 1980 under the Sindh High Court orders and an amount of Rs 10,811,600 came as the share of each legatees (total being Rs 32,434,800).
“From the amount received from the Quaid’s property, Islamia College Peshawar established a library on the name of Quaid-e-Azam,” said Shaikh.
Talking about the part of SMI, Shaikh informed the audience that Fatima Jinnah made the first payment of Rs 350,000 to SMI in 1956; second payment of Rs 100,000 in 1962; whereas, after her death, Mohtarma Shireen Bai paid Rs 260,000 in 1972.
Until 1972, the sum amounted to Rs 710,000. All checks were issued in the name of SMI and the amount was received by the Sindh Madressah Board, which managed the affairs of SMI before nationalisation. After its nationalisation in 1972, the provincial government took over the control of SMI from its board. Two years later, the federal government took over the intuition from the Sindh government in view of its status as the Quaid’s alma mater. The federal Education Ministry constituted a new board of governors headed by the Federal Education Minister for administering SMI.
In 1980, an amount of Rs 1,000,000 was to be transferred to SMI from the share from Quaid’s estate.
“Unfortunately, the administrators of Jinnah’s will, without taking the stock of new realities, handed over the check drawn in the name of SMI to the Sindh Madressah Board,” claimed Shaikh, maintaining that the remaining amount was also received by the board in succeeding years until 1994.
“The SMI could only receive a tiny part [Rs 710,000 from actual share of Rs 10,811,600], about 6.57 percent. A quick calculation shows that out of the total amount arising out from his [Jinnah’s] residuary estate i.e. Rs 32,434,800 only Rs 11,521,600 (35.5 percent) could reach his intended destination,” added the SMI college principal.
Meanwhile, added Shaikh, no payment has been made by any of the administrators to the Aligarh University at all, since 1948. In 1965, the Indian Parliament had amended the Aligarh Muslim University Act of 1920, which allegedly diluted its Muslim character. The case was referred to the Sindh High Court, which passed a judgment in 1984, directing that the money should not be sent to India and instead retained in Pakistan to be used for educational purposes.
Through the court’s judgment, a trust called ‘Quaid-e-Azam Aligarh Scholarship Trust’ was established and three trustees appointed. An amount of Rs 108,11,600 was placed with the trust. This money was invested in government securities and the profit earned was used to award scholarships to Pakistani students.
“The fact remains that the money earmarked by Quaid-e-Azam for Aligarh University through his last will could not reach the institution he intended,” said Shaikh.
