Mohtarma Fatimah Jinnah stood by her brother through the historic struggle for the Muslims of the sub continent for an independent country of their own. She was thus called Madar e Millat for the contribution in awakening the women to the significance of independence and the importance of their own role in it. The days and weeks following independence were full of tragic losses and displacement of millions of people. Fatimah Jinnah along with her brother, the Quaid e Azam, picked the gauntlet and actively participated in providing solace to the people in findings ways and means to settle them as soon as possible.
This exhibition is a tribute to her contribution in leading from the front in all spheres of life in the country, be it politics, social work, humanitarian effort, health initiatives and educational activity. One of the first Indian Muslim women to be professional educated she knew the importance of education, and education of women in particular, if the country was to develop and advance in the decades to come. She served as a beacon light for others of her gender to follow in her footsteps in attaining and then consolidating their rights.
She was fully aware of the responsibilities that are entwined with rights. Her whole hearted and selfless involvement in nearly all sectors of life, particularly focusing on humanitarian work serves as an example to those who only call for rights and forget the challenges of enjoined responsibilities. Looking back it was a self sacrificing lifelong effort that has shorn brightly though the seventy years of our independent existence, and needs to be celebrated.
She posed a formidable figure against the forces of obscurantism and authoritarianism and much later when called upon to opposed these forces actively she came out of her seclusion and fought valiantly, fully cognizant of the norms and values of democratic dispensation through which Pakistan gained its own independence.
