Mr. Jinnah with Lord Pethick Lawrence and Mr A V Alexander

originally uploaded by Doc Kazi.

The Cabinet Mission came to India in 1946 but could not achieve a consensus and failed miserably. Its chief quickly acquired the name Lord 'Pathetic' Lawrence

Quotes about Jinnah

• Few individuals significantly alter the course of history. Fewer still modify the map of the world. Hardly anyone can be credited with creating a nation-state. Mohammad Ali Jinnah did all three. (Prof. Stanley Wolpert, Jinnah of Pakistan (1984).

• Gandhi died by the hands of an assassin; Jinnah died by his devotion to Pakistan. (Lord Pethick Lawrence,My Brother(1987),biography by Fatima Jinnah.)

• Mr Jinnah, was great as a lawyer, once great as a Congressman, great as a leader of Muslims, great as a world politician and diplomat, and greatest of all as a man of action, By Mr. Jinnah's passing away, the world has lost one of the greatest statesmen and Pakistan its life-giver, philosopher and guide. (Surat Chandra Bose,My Brother(1987),biography by Fatima Jinnah.)

• Muhammad Ali Jinnah was the greatest benefactor of Hindus in modern times, if he was not a Hindu in disguise. (Girilal Jain, The Hindu Phenomenon.)

• Jinnah is one of the most extraordinary men in history. (Jawaharlal Nehru, first prime minister of India)

• Although without Ghandi, Hindustan would still have gained independence and without Lenin and Mao, Russia and China would still have endured Communist revolution, without Jinnah there would have been no Pakistan in 1947. (John Biggs-Davison)

• Jinnah contributed more than any other man to Pakistan's survivial. (Richard Symons)

• The greatest man he ever met. (The Aga Khan)

• The most important man in Asia. (Beverley Nichols, the author of `Verdict on India')

• An outstanding figure of this century not only in India, but in the whole world. (Dr. Kailashnath Katju, the West Bengal Governor in 1948)

• One of the greatest leaders in the Muslim world. (Abdul Rahman Azzam Pasha, Secretary General of the Arab League)

• The Grand Mufti of Palestine considered his death as a "great loss" to the entire world of Islam.

• He set a great example to other statesmen to follow by his skill in negotiation, his integrity and his honesty. (Gordon Johnson, Director Center of South Asian Studies)

• Though Jinnah’s scheme of partition was good, it would take at least 25 years to take shape. But great wars and great men shorten history, and Jinnah was such a man who could alter the history of a nation. (Lord Lothian)

• Lord Mountbatten had enormous confidence in his persuasive powers. But as far as Jinnah was concerned, he felt that though he tried every trick, he could not shake Jinnah’s resolve to have partition. Mountbatten said that Jinnah had a " consuming determination to realize the dream of Pakistan." And he remained focused on that till his death.

• Muslim India was beset by socio-economic frustration. At such a time Jinnah guided a virtually rudderless Muslim League. Aziz refers to Jinnah as the greatest Muslim leader of the 20th century who was able to turn a dream state of Pakistan into a reality. (Quttabuddin Aziz)

• [He was] the originator of the dream that became Pakistan, architect of the State and father of the world's largest Muslim nation. Mr. Jinnah was the recipient of a devotion and loyalty seldom accord to any man. (Harry S Truman, US President)

• Ali Jinnah is a constant source of inspiration for all those who are fighting against racial or group discrimination.' (Nelson Mandela had come to Islamabad in 1995 and had insisted on including Karachi as a destination to visit Jinnah's Grave and his house in Karachi where upon reaching he drove straight to the Quaid's Mazar) At another occasion while addressing the ANC Mandela mentioned three names Ali Jinnah, Gandhi and Nehru as sources of inspiration for the movement against apartheid.' (Nelson Mandela, Ex-South African President)

• a sincerity of purpose and the lasting charm of a character animated by a brave conception of duty and an austere and lovely code of private honour and public integrity... Tall and stately, but thin to the point of emaciation, languid and luxurious of habit, Mohammad Ali Jinnah's attenuated form is a deceptive sheath of a spirit of exceptional vitality and endurance. Somewhat formal and fastidious, and a little aloof and imperious of manner, the calm hauteur of his accustomed reserve but masks, for those who know him, a naive and eager humanity, an intuition quick and tender as a woman's, a humour gay and winning as a child's. Pre-eminently rational and practical, discreet and dispassionate in his estimate and acceptance of life, the obvious sanity and serenity of his worldly wisdom effectually disguise a shy and splendid idealism which is of the very essence of the man. (Sarojini Naidu, Advocate of Hindu Muslim Unity)

• 'Jinnah is Incorruptible and Brave' (Gandhi - Interview with Louis Fischer)

• The old Advocate of Unity, Mr. M.A.Jinnah, ... was advanced than his colleagues, and stood head and shoulders above them. (Nehru - Paraphrased: Quoted from his book freedom at midnight)

• All religions hold that God sends suitable people into the world to work out his plans from time to time and at critical junctures. I regard Mr Jinnah as the man who has been called upon to correct the wrong ways in which the people of India have been led by the leadership of Mr Gandhi. Congress took a wrong turn when it adopted wholesale the non cooperation programme of Mr Gandhi and assumed an attitude of open hostility towards Britain and tried to infusew the minds of people a spirit of defiance of law and civil disobedience more of less thinly veiled under a formula of truth and non violence. Moreover by Mahatmafying Mr Gandhi it appealed to the idolatorous sperstition of the Hindus, thus converting the religious adherence of the Hindu section of the population to the Mahatma into political support of his non cooperation movement.While this strategy was of some avail in hustling the British Government to yield more and more it divided the people into Hindu and non hind! u sectionsIn these circumstances a man was needed to stand up to congress and tell its leaders that their organization however powerful numerically and financially doesnot represent the whole of India. I admire Mr Jinnah and feel grateful to him because in advocating the cause of the Muslims he is championing the cause of all the classes that are in danger of bein crushed under the steam roller of the caste Hindu majority, acting under the inspiration and orders of Mr Gandhi " [Leader of the scheduled Castes (M.C.Rajah) - 25th December 1940, 9 months After the Pakistan Resolution, Seen here are Scheduled castes of India]

• (I am) A committed friend who will stand with the people of Pakistan as long as you seek the stable, prosperous, democratic nation of your founder's dreams. More than half a century ago, Mohammed Ali Jinnah, shared that vision as he addressed Pakistan's constituent assembly. "If you work together", he said, "in a spirit that everyone of you is first, second and last a citizen with equal rights, privileges, and obligations, there will be no end to the progress you will make." Pakistan can have a future worthy of the dreams of the Quaid-e-Azam. If you choose that future, the United States will walk with you. I hope you will make that choice. And I pray for our continued friendship, for peace, for Pakistan. Pakistan Zindabad. (Bill Clinton, US President)

• A most accomplished lawyer, outstanding amongst Indian lawyers, and a fine constitutionalist. (Sir Stafford Cripps)

• There is no man or woman living who imputes anything against his honour or his honesty. He was the most upright person that I know, but throughout it all, he never, as far as I know, for one moment, attempted to deceive any body, as to what he was aiming at or as to the means he attempted to adopt to get it. (Sir Patrick Spen, the last Chief Justice of undivided India)

• Jinnah was a pure artist in the manner and method of his presentation. Even the most complex facts became simple and obvious when he waved his wand over them. He could be ferociously aggressive and almost boyishly persuasive as and when the occasion arose, and what particularly helped him in his advocacy, was the absolute clear head that he possessed, and on which he justly prided himself. He had common sense, that most uncommon of qualities in an uncommon degree. (Mr. M.C Chagla, who rose to be the Chief Justice of the High Court of Bombay and later became the Foreign Minister of India)

• Watch him in the court room as he argues a case. Few lawyers command a more attentive audience. No man is more adroit in presenting his case. If to achieve the maximum result with minimum effort is the hallmark of artistry, Mr. Jinnah is an artist in his craft. He likes to get down to the bare bones of a brief. In stating the essentials of a case, his manner is masterly. The drab courtroom acquires an atmosphere as he speaks. Juniors crane their necks forward to follow every movement of his tall, well groomed figure; senior counsels listen closely; the judge is all attention. (Mr. Frank Moraes, Chief Editor of The Indian Express)

• Never was there a nature whose other qualities provided so complete an anti-thesis of its inner worth. Tall and stately, but thin to the point of emaciation, languid and luxurious of habit, Mohammad Ali Jinnah’s attenuated form is the deceptive sheath of a spirit of exceptional vitality and endurance. (Mrs. Sarojini Naidu)

• He has true stuff in him and that freedom from all sectarian prejudice which will make him the best ambassador of Hindu-Muslim unity. (Gokhale)

• His admirable skill and tact in piloting through such an intricate and controversial measure - the first instance of a Bill passing into legislation on the motion of a private member - won him not only the appreciation of his colleagues, but also his first meed of his general recognition from his co-religionists all over India. (Mrs. Sarojini Naidu - On the Wakf Validating Bill moved by Jinnah in 1913)

• Jinnah, young, perfectly mannered, impressive looking, armed to the teeth with dialectics and insistent upon the whole of his scheme --- he would rather have nothing if he could not get the whole lot. ---Chelmsford tried to argue with him and was tied up into knots. Jinnah is a very clever man, and it is of course an outrage that such a man should have no chance of running the affairs of his own country. (Secretary of State Montagu - 1918)

• Mr. Jinnah was one of the handsomest men I have ever seen; he combined the clear cut, almost Grecian features of the West with oriental grace and movement. (Lord Wavell, Viceroy of India 1943 - 1947)