Feature 
 

Heritage

Caring for the Mausoleum

There is an entire organization that looks after the upkeep of the Quaid e Azam’s Mazar in Karachi. However, gaps have been noticed in the way certain personnel are treated at the Mausoleum.

By J. Enver | April 2021

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A grand mausoleum known as the Quaid e Azam’s Mazar was built in Karachi as a magnificent memorial to the person who is known as the Father of the Nation - Muhammad Ali Jinnah - who had single-handedly created Pakistan - a homeland for the Muslims of the sub-continent.

A management board known as the QMMB (Quaid e Azam Mazar Management Board) was constituted as an authority for the Mazar’s Protection and Maintenance under an Ordinance promulgated in1971. The independent management board has since then run the affairs of the QMMB.

The main charter of the Quaid-e-Azam Mazar Management Board calls for the upkeep and maintenance of the Quaid’s Mazar, which is spread over an area of 61 acres. The charter requires the beautification and landscaping of the main area (61 acres) and peripheral area (70 acres).

The charter also includes development, care and upkeep of the relic room which contains the relics of the father of the nation. Management of the ceremonial guards posted at the Mazar is also governed by the charter.

However, it has been observed that certain contract personnel posted at the Mazar by the QMMB are continually subjected to cruelty and exploitation. As a result, an urgent situation has developed as gross inhumanity, illegality and cruelty are being meted out to the contracted employees of the mausoleum.

In the words of one contracted employee, a security guard at the Mazar, “Hundreds of us scorch in a living hell for 12 hours every day at Rs.10, 000 per month. The sanitary staff gets Re.14, 000 pm for a 12 hour shift and the gardeners receive Rs.9, 000 for the morning shift.”

Naeem-sadiq

The elegant complex that constitutes Mr. Jinnah’s mausoleum is a symbol of pride, respect and affection for every Pakistani. Little do they know and little does the government of Pakistan care that it is in fact a place of torture that delivers exploitation and pain to hundreds of contracted employees of the QMMB.

The Mazar employs about 50 janitors through a contractor. They work on a 12 hour shift from 8 am to 8 pm. They are paid Rs.14, 000 for their daily 12 hour duty, while they ought to be paid Rs.35,000 as per the minimum wage law. (Rs.17, 500 for an 8 hour shift and Rs, 17,500 overtime for the extra 4 hours they put in every day.) They also do not receive any EOBI or medical insurance cover.

The Mazar also employs about 53 gardeners through a contractor. They are paid Rs.9,000 per month for their morning shift duty from 7 am to 1 pm. Again, there is no EOBI or medical insurance. In fact, they should be receiving Rs.17, 500 pm.

The QMMB employs private security guards through a private security company. These guards are posted at the various gates and at other locations of the mausoleum. They are paid Rs.10, 000 for a 12 hour shift (from 8 am to 8 pm.) and there is no EOBI, medical insurance or medical leave.

It is amazing that these contract employees of the QMMB - a very prestigious institution – are being treated in this manner.

What is urgently required is a raise in the minimum wages of all these contracted employees (janitors, guards and gardeners) to at least Rs.17,500 for an 8 hour shift and Rs.35,000 for those who work for 12 hours. This is required under the law.

The QMMB also needs to ensure that all its contracted employees are registered with the EOBI and have medical insurance cover, as required by the law. The QMMB must also make it mandatory that all employees are paid by bank cheques so that there is traceability of the actual amount paid.

In pursuance of 18th Constitutional Amendment, the rules of business, 1973, were amended and the functions / entities of the defunct Ministry of Culture were transferred to provincial governments. However, some of the organizations / functions were retained at the Federal level and transferred to the Cabinet Division, Inter-Provincial Coordination Division, Economic Affairs Division, Planning and Development Division and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. These functions were later assigned to the newly created Ministry of National Heritage & Integration on 26th October 2011, which was amalgamated with the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on 7th June 2013. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and National Heritage was bifurcated into two separate Divisions, i.e. National History and Literary Heritage (NH & LH) Division and Information & Broadcasting on 5th January, 2016. The NH&LH Division was placed under the Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training on 19th August, 2019, which was further renamed as National Heritage and Culture Division on 10th April, 2020.

The National Heritage and Culture Division has been assigned the following functions.

Oversight of international agreements and assistance in the field of archaeology, national museums and historical monuments declared to be of national importance, the Quaid-e-Azam Papers Wing, Pakistan Academy of Letters, the National Language Authority, the Urdu Dictionary Board and Urdu Science Board, the Quaid-e-Azam Academy, Aiwan-i-Iqbal and Iqbal Academy, Quaid-e-Azam Mazar Management Board (QMMB), Quaid-e-Azam Memorial Fund, naming of institutions in the name of Quaid-e-Azam and other distinguished personages, the National Library of Pakistan, the National Institute of Folk and Traditional Heritage of Pakistan (Lok Virsa), Pakistan National Council of the Arts, cultural pacts and protocols with other countries, the Federal Government’s Artists Welfare Fund and the National Academy of Performing Arts (NAPA).

Regarding the Quaid-e-Azam Mazar Management Board (QMMB), the Quaid-e-Azam Memorial Fund, the Quaid-e-Azam Academy, the Quaid-e-Azam Papers Wing, Aiwan-i-Iqbal and the Iqbal Academy, it needs to be especially ensured that these institutions are in good hands and, in accordance with the reverence that the nation attaches to these institutions, due cognizance is taken by the National Heritage and Culture Division of the conditions under which the employees of these institution function.

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