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

2026-04-26 2026-04-27 2026-04-28 4/30/2026 12:00:00 AM DownTown News 2 2026 Review article 294 303 2026 ID N-5730-2015 English Taha Nazir, Zaighum Javaid Mazar-e-Quaid; Muhammad Ali Jinnah; national monuments; Pakistan history 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.