ABSTRACT
Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, was born on 25 December 1876 at Karachi. He was the eldest of seven children of Jinnahbhai Poonja, a Khoja merchant whose father had emigrated from Gondal State of Kathiawar to Karachi, and Mithibai, who also belonged to a Khoja family of Gondal. One may discount the exaggerated claim for Jinnah’s political activism in England during his student days, but there is evidence to indicate that he had developed a keen interest in politics. Jinnah’s mother and young wife had already died when he was in England. He did not want to break his father’s heart, and decided to return to India immediately. Jinnah’s forte was not the knowledge of law, but the ability to advocate the case of his client. M.C. Chagla, who worked as Jinnah’s junior for nearly six years and later rose to be Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court, has left a perceptive profile of Jinnah.
