Greetings!!! To all of you. I hope you are safe and sound. This is the fourth and the last episode of the most beautiful places of Pakistan series as of now. In this article, I will talk about just “Mazar-e-Quaid”.  This place is at the center of the biggest city of Pakistan, Karachi city. This is the mausoleum of the founder of Pakistan and that is why the importance of this place is a lot in Pakistani people’s hearts. According to the tradition of this series, I will start with a quote. This time of “Ernest Hemingway”.

“Never go on trips with anyone you do not love.”

Ernest Hemingway

Mazar-e-Quaid

Mazar-e-Quaid is also known as Jinnah Mausoleum or the National Mausoleum is the final resting place of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan. Designed in a 1960s modernist style, it was completed in 1971 and is an iconic symbol of Karachi as well as one of the most popular tourist sites in the city. The mausoleum complex also contains the tomb of Jinnah’s sister, Māder-e Millat (“Mother of the Nation”) Fatima Jinnah, as well as those of Liaquat Ali Khan and Nurul Amin, the first and eighth Prime Ministers of Pakistan respectively. The tomb of Sardar Abdur Rab Nishtar, a stalwart of the Muslim League from Peshawar, is also located there.

Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s death occurred in 1948. In 1957, the Government of Pakistan held an international competition to design a new mausoleum for Jinnah. The competition was initially won by British architect William Whitfield, of the Raglan Squire and Partners firm. The state’s efforts to select a design were paralleled by the efforts of the Jinnah’s sister, Fatima Jinnah, who sought input from the public in the design of a monument for her brother. Fatima Jinnah effectively vetoed the 1957 proposal and assumed control of the QMF. She then commissioned architect Yahya Merchant, a Bombay-based architect who was a personal friend of Jinnah, to design the monument.

President Ayub Khan laid the foundation stone for the monument on July 31, 1960. It was inaugurated by Yahya Khan on 18 January 1971. The gardens surrounding the mausoleum were not completed until December 24, 2000.

In the interior of the grave complex, there are four graves in a row and one to the north. The one to the north, which is decorated with a series of black floral designs at the base, belongs to Miss [Fatima Jinnah], Quaid-e-Azam’s sister. Out of the four graves in a row, the first extreme two belong to Liaquat Ali Khan, the first Prime Minister of Pakistan, and Begum Ra’ana Liaquat Ali Khan lying side by side. The other extreme grave belongs to Sardar Abdur Rab Nishtar. In the middle lies buried Nurul Amin, who was the eighth Prime Minister of Pakistan. All these graves are made of Italian white marble, and they are of the box type, like the sarcophagus of Jinnah, placed on a triple base. But the sides of these graves are tapering inward while that of Jinnah are diverging outward. These are all plain graves, except that of Mohtarma Fatima Jinnah, which has basal floral ornamentation.

The mausoleum is located in a 53-hectare. Official and military ceremonies take place here on special occasions, such as on 23 March (Pakistan Day), 14 August (Independence Day), 11 September (the anniversary of Jinnah’s death), and 25 December (Jinnah’s birthday). Dignitaries and officials from foreign countries also visit the mausoleum during official tours. The museum at Mazar-e-Quaid is an interesting place to visit. I will advise you to as well.

The plus point of visiting Mazar-e-Quaid is that you get a lot of options to visit other nearby interesting places. There are many hotels and restaurants where you can taste the popular dishes of Pakistan. You can eat the famous Biryani of Karachi.

There are islands, beaches, five-star hotels, cinemas, and everything you would like to visit. To sum up, Karachi is a one-shop stop for all types of visitors. I hope you enjoyed this article. See you. Good Bye!!!!