Daily Times

Multan: A craftsman known in the city for his family’s services to Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah has prepared and sent a Karakul cap for Prime Minister-in-waiting Imran Khan.

Abbas Ali has sent the cap, popularly known as Jinnah cap because it was frequently worn by the founding father, to Imran Khan through newly elected MNA of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PT1) from NA-155, Malik Amir Dogar. Speaking to Daily Times, Ali hoped that Khan would wear the cap at the oath taking ceremony.

Ali, who owns a small house in downtown area of Multan, says that the cap making skill runs in the family. “My grandfather used to make these caps for Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah,” he says, adding that his father Nisar Ali learnt the skill from his grandfather and passed it on to him.

Since independence, the family has made Karakuls for several Prime Ministers, Presidents and other political leaders.

“Special handmade caps knitted by my father were worn by the then Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, former President Asif Ali Zardari, ex-Chief Justice of Pakistan Tasadduq Hussain Jillani and former Chief Justice Punjab High Court Umar Atta Bandyal”, Ali says. He adds his family also made caps for Jinnah’s contemporaries across the Muslim world.

Further, Ali says, “Jinnah cap is the symbol of our greatest leader Mohammad Ali Jinnah, but politicians and common people have stopped wearing these caps due to which this craft is slowly dying.

Because of this, craftsmen of Karakul caps are facing difficulties in earning their livelihood. “The trend of Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah should be kept alive. Imran Khan is a trend setter, and now when people are following his trend of wearing Kheris [handmade Peshawari sandal], he should also revive the trend of wearing Jinnah cap,” Ali says.

Ali is the only one in his generation associated with the craft. “My one brother is a lawyer, other is a trader, and my sister is a home keeper. Only I was interested in learning this ancestral skill and my father had worked very hard to polish my skill of making Jinnah caps,” he maintains.

Published in Daily Times, August 15^th 2018.