July 9 passed but the mainstream media did not give proper coverage to the 49th death anniversary of Mohtarma Fatima Jinnah — Madr-e-Millat — that falls on this day. Only a few seminars and functions were held to pay homage to this great woman leader who made tremendous contribution to democratic values before and after the partition of India. Before the creation of Pakistan, Miss Jinnah stood by her brother in pursuit of the apparently impossible goal of securing a separate homeland for the Muslims of the subcontinent. During the years (1937-1947) when Pakistan movement was at its peak, Miss Jinnah’s role was nothing less than a beacon of hope for the Muslim women. Through the guidance of her elder brother Muhammad Ali Jinnah, she herself became a role model not only for the Muslim women of South Asia, but also for all women who perfected the art of balancing their personal and professional lives in a remarkable manner. Miss Jinnah’s role as a women leader was even more important when after the death of Mr Jinnah in 1948 she became the focal point for aspirations of Pakistanis. It was under very difficult circumstances that she worked for the promotion of women’s rights and privileges in Pakistan. Miss Jinnah rallied the opposition against the martial-law ruler Muhammad Ayub Khan but was made to lose the presidential elections. If she had come to power, things could have changed in the newly built state. In fact, she was not allowed to propagate and implement her ideas of a democratic state. She was deprived of the opportunity to rule the nation by a certain group that had no desire to see democratic norms flourish in the country. Miss Jinnah was an ideal woman leader who learned a great deal about politics being in close proximity to Mr Jinnah for a number of years during his time in India as a lawyer, as a member of the Indian Congress, as a constitutionalist, as a barrister in the UK, and as the “sole spokesman” of Muslims after joining the Muslim League and dedicating his life to the idea of a separate homeland for Muslims of the subcontinent. The history of Pakistan’s struggle for independence has mostly focused on male nationalist leaders, the founding fathers, but not on the sacrifices and accomplishments of the “great founding mothers,” who appeared merely as wives, sisters or daughters. Fatima Jinnah was one of them. Her role in the struggle for Pakistan has been downplayed, mainly because of the practice of inequality, religious restrictions, social and cultural constraints, conservatism, educational drawbacks, and due to the retrogressive role of forces impeding the progress of Pakistan. The history of Pakistan is incomplete without mentioning the sacrifices rendered by this great leady, whose contributions have now been consigned to oblivion. One of the greatest tragedies of Pakistan has been the death of Mohammad Ali Jinnah in 1948, barely a year after Pakistan came under existence, and seemed to be floundering in search of the shape it was to take. No one was better suited than Fatima Jinnah — his sister, political companion, confidant and colleague — to take forward his legacy. Other than the speech made to the first Constituent Assembly of Pakistan in 1948, not much is known to Pakistanis of Jinnah’s views, aspirations, plans and goals for the country that had been carved out of India after a very painful and bloodied partition. It would not have been dynastic politics in practice but the most pragmatic step for the new state of Pakistan to have Fatima Jinnah, the sibling and political contemporary of Mohammad Ali Jinnah, to have her as the leader of Pakistan after his death. No one else could have taken forward Jinnah’s legacy as it was better than the leadership of Fatima Jinnah after his death in 1948 when Pakistan was merely a one-year-old, infant state.*