Declamation contest to be held at Quaid-e-Azam House Museum

The Quaid-e-Azam Museum Institute of Nation Building’s board of management held a press conference on Monday to announce that it would hold a speech competition titled ‘Jinnah Declamation Competition’ for schoolchildren from March 16 till 19 at the Quaid-e-Azam House Museum.

Liaquat Merchant, senior vice chairman of the institute’s board of management, said the Quaid-e-Azam had purchased the building that was now called the Quaid-e-Azam House Museum.

In 1984, he said, the federal government showed interest in purchasing the building and a court allowed that at a price of Rs5.1 million. The government, he said, constructed a museum in the building but could not come up with a library in the vicinity. After the 18th amendment, Merchant explained, the property came to the provincial government, which constituted its board of management.

He said various activities had been planned at the historical building. He announced that a library would be established there called ‘Jinnah Library’. Besides, an audio-visual centre would be set up that would display documentaries on Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah and the Pakistan Movement.

The heritage site would be preserved and maintained by the Sindh Government, he assured. “We will arrange and hold educational and debating-elocution competitions for senior school students, hold art exhibitions, and arrange seminars, talk shows and other similar literary events for the benefit of the citizens,” he added.

Secretary General Commodore (retd) Sadeed A Malik introduced members appointed under the Sindh government’s notification issued on April 6, 2021, regarding the historical building.

Vice Chairman Ikram Sehgal said the construction of a state-of-the-art auditorium was under consideration behind the Quaid-e-Azam House Museum, which was a heritage site. It was said a concept paper relating to the auditorium had been prepared and submitted by reputed architect Syed Akeel Bilgrami.

The head of the education programme committee of the board, Ameena Saiyid, said the Jinnah Declamation Competition 2022 would be held from March 17 till March 19, for which invitations had been issued to 45 Karachi-based schools. The elimination contest would be held on March 17 and March 18, and the final event would be held on March 19.

The topics for speeches are: Jinnah’s Pakistan, Pakistan and the Muslim World – Interaction and Benefits, and Pakistan Resolution 1940.

Judges for the final would be Nadira Panjwani from the Panjwani Charitable Foundation and Trust, Naseem Merchant from The Jinnah Society, Saiyid, Dr Huma Baqai from the IBA Karachi and Arshad Saeed Hussain from the Oxford University Press. The event is being sponsored by the Habib Metropolitan Bank Limited, The Jinnah Society and Karachi Council on Foreign Relations.