Jinnah Papers (Quaid-I-Azam)

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In 1906 the All-India Muslim League was founded under the leadership of Mohammed Ali Jinnah, who is also known as Quaidi-Azam ("Great Leader"). This League struggled to ensure that the Muslims of India had a voice in the growing pressure for Independence. Eventually, Jinnah and the League were able to insist that Britain would agree to the Partition of India, so that there would be a Muslim state, Pakistan, as well as a Hindu one, India. When Independence was agreed in 1947, that was what happened. This Partition and the establishment of a new Muslim state were critical to the future of South Asia and, indeed, to the whole world.

The new state of Pakistan became at once the most populous of all Muslim states.

Jinnah died in 1949. In 1967 his papers were taken over by the National Archives of Pakistan as were the papers of the League (bound in 624 volumes). The Jinnah papers (1876– 1948) cover his political life, including copies of his correspondence with Indian and world leaders, speeches and interviews, press cuttings, copies of pamphlets and books, maps and photographs (of which there are over 3,000). In addition there are personal records and papers covering, among other things, Jinnah's financial and medical health. The collection gives a clear view of the personality and work of this extraordinary man. These papers of Jinnah were inscribed on the International Memory of the World Register in 1999: they are held with the papers of the All-India Muslim League which have not been registered, but which form a single whole with the collection of Jinnah papers.

International Register