Jinnah, Partition and a secret: Why Pakistan is honouring 2 Mumbai doctors 79 years later | Mumbai News
MUMBAI: Two doctors from Mumbai’s Parsi community, a physician and a radiologist, will be conferred Pakistan’s highest civilian honour, the Nishan-e-Imtiaz, for keeping Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s terminal illness secret, according to a federal minister.Planning minister Ahsan Iqbal announced the decision in a post on X after Pakistan declared its nominations for civilian and military honours on August 14, news agency PTI reported.“I feel honoured to have had the privilege, as chairman of the Awards Committee, of nominating for the Nishan-e-Imtiaz two remarkable doctors, a physician and a radiologist, both members of Bombay’s Parsi community, who faithfully guarded the secret of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s terminal illness,” he said.Iqbal said revealing the seriousness of Jinnah’s health at the time could have affected the creation of Pakistan in 1947.“Many historians regard this as one of the most consequential secrets of the twentieth century. Lord Mountbatten later acknowledged that, had he known how seriously ill Jinnah was, he might have delayed Partition, potentially altering the course of history and perhaps even jeopardising the creation of Pakistan,” he said.“By maintaining absolute professional confidentiality at such a critical moment, these doctors performed a quiet but extraordinary service. Their fidelity to their professional oath inadvertently became a significant contribution to the circumstances that made the creation of Pakistan possible,” he stated.Iqbal did not disclose the names of the two doctors or specify who would receive the awards on their behalf, PTI reported.Pakistan traditionally announces its national civil and military awards on Independence Day, August 14.The honours are formally presented at a presidential investiture ceremony on Pakistan Day, March 23.Jinnah had tuberculosis, which was incurable at the time, and died a year after Partition led to the creation of Pakistan.He is regarded as the father of the nation and is revered for his efforts to argue the case for Pakistan.In 1998, the Pakistan government conferred the ‘Nishan-e-Imtiaz’ on Dilip Kumar.(With agency inputs)
