MAZAR-E-QUAID: HISTORICAL CONSTRUCTION, ARCHITECTURAL SYMBOLISM, AND CONTESTED NARRATIVES OF NATIONAL COMMEMORATION IN PAKISTAN – AN ANALYTICAL REVIEW

Abstract

Mazar-e-Quaid, the mausoleum of Pakistan’s founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah, stands as one of the most important national monuments in Pakistan and a central symbol of state identity, collective memory, and post-colonial nation-building. Completed in 1971 in Karachi, the mausoleum represents a fusion of modernist architectural principles and Islamic geometric aesthetics. In recent years, viral social-media narratives have claimed that the mausoleum’s construction was delayed due to state neglect until criticism allegedly voiced by Jawaharlal Nehru during a 1960 visit to Pakistan compelled the government to act.