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220 American Archivist / Vol. 54 / Spring 1991

International Scene NANCY BARTLETT AND MARJORIE BARRITT, editors Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/american-archivist/article-pdf/54/2/220/2748228/aarc_54_2_8777g4340j634450.pdf by guest on 29 September 2021

The National Archives of the Islamic Republic of

TIMOTHY A. SLAVIN

Abstract: The National Archives of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan presents a fascinating paradox for archivists interested in the work of their colleagues abroad. Faced with the separate problems of poverty, illiteracy, and martial law, the National Archives of Pakistan has established and maintained a model archival program for . The collections housed at the National Archives of Pakistan—a mix of manuscripts from the Moghul rulers to the administrative papers of the first years of government—reflect the multitude of paradoxes which Pakistan has come to represent.

About the author: Timothy A. Slavin is the state archivist for the State of Rhode Island and Prov- idence Plantations. From 1987 to 1989 he served as assistant archivist for the Archives of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago. This article is based upon research conducted during a personal visit to Pakistan in January 1989. Chinese and American Approaches to Archives 221

FOR A FOREIGNER, PAKISTAN IS a COUntiy ever, were not included in the formula. Ex- of paradox. There are fabulous mosques and tant records left by the British were either impressive buildings in the face of a per burned, lost, or sequestered into one of the capita income of $310. A poet and philos- provincial archives. Archives in each of the opher, Iqbal, is one of the four provinces that currently comprise Pak- country's most revered patriots despite the istan—the , Sind, Baluchistan, and Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/american-archivist/article-pdf/54/2/220/2748228/aarc_54_2_8777g4340j634450.pdf by guest on 29 September 2021 fact that nearly 76 percent of the population the Northwest Frontier Province—were is functionally illiterate. English is consid- deeded to Pakistan.1 Likewise, British gov- ered the lingua franca, yet is the na- ernmental records regarding the adminis- tional language, and Punjabi, Pushtu, tration of these areas were also given to Sindhi, and Baluchi can be heard in the Pakistan.2 The Directorate of Archives and provinces. The country carries with it a Libraries, however, was not established until wealth of historic sites such as Fort 1952. and Badshai Mosque built by Moghul rul- Although the Directorate of Archives and ers in the seventeenth century, and yet Pak- Libraries had no direct jurisdiction over each istan, as a country, is only forty-four years of the provincial archives (this being left to old. the province), it did seek to secure those Pakistan was born on 14 August 1947, records that concerned the founding and a result of the British decision to grant free- early development of Pakistan. Chief among dom to . A separate in these were the records of Pakistan's founder the subcontinent was initially the idea of and first president, Jinnah, Rahmat Ali, a graduate student in England. or as he is referred to among , The idea was further shaped by Pakistan's Quaid-i-Azam (The Great Leader). Also founder, first president, and revered pa- preserved in this project are the extant rec- triot, , who fought ords of the All-India , which for the partition of a Muslim state from served as the political power behind the de- India from 1933 until 1947. The struggle velopment of Pakistan in pre-partition days. for partition was herculean, and the grant- Because of the lack of any central reposi- ing of independence in 1947 was one of the tory, the directorate oversaw the placement few moments of celebration that Pakistan of these and other historically significant as a nation has enjoyed. materials into the libraries of various uni- The responsibility for documenting this versities in Pakistan. The materials have struggle has fallen primarily upon the Na- since been placed in the National Archives tional Archives of Pakistan (NAP). Initially of Pakistan. established as a separate program in 1974, In 1966 a plan for the establishment of the program has grown from a one-room the National Archives of Pakistan was pre- collection of historical papers to a 73,000 cubic foot storage facility located in the government's secretariat compound in Is- The geographically separate province of East Pak- lamabad. istan gained independence from Pakistan after a civil war in 1971, and is now known as . The Upon partition from the English Crown fifth province in , the , is con- in 1947, resources for any particular geo- sidered "disputed territory" between India and Pak- graphic region were split between India and istan. Maps of Pakistan outline the four main provinces, and include the Kashmir as a shaded area. the newly formed Islamic Republic of Pak- 2Some materials, however, were destroyed by the istan. A calculated formula ensured that what British. Most notable among these were reports on the were previously British resources—every- activities of the of India, who served as the autonomous rulers of the Princely States. On or- thing from buildings to guns to horses- ders from Sir Conrad Carfield, all such reports were were divided equitably. Archives, how- burned in June 1947. 222 American Archivist / Spring 1991

sented to the government. This plan was iat is tight, especially since the assassina- not formally enacted until 1973, when the tion of President Muhammad Zia al-Haq. National Archives of Pakistan "scheme" The military presence is heavy and persist- was approved with a budget of 175,860 ent, with numerous checkpoints required for Rupees (approximately $9,000 based on the passage into the various blocks. Verifica- current inflated exchange rate). The ar- tion of my appointment was checked three Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/american-archivist/article-pdf/54/2/220/2748228/aarc_54_2_8777g4340j634450.pdf by guest on 29 September 2021 chives then consisted of a one-room col- separate times; holding a letter of introduc- lection of the Quaid-i-Azam papers placed tion from the director general—procured under the administration of the Ministry of after a series of correspondence describing Education. the reasons for my visit—was mandatory. It was at this juncture that Atique Zafar The National Archives of Pakistan Sheikh was hired as the director general. Administration Building is a stunning ad- Since then, Sheikh has been the prime mover dition to the rows and rows of governmen- behind the growth of the National Archives tal office buildings that comprise the of Pakistan from its one-room dwelling to Secretariat. The building itself consists of its new building. Educated in library sci- 150,000 square feet of floor space; a little ence in England, Sheikh has sought to raise less than half of which is scheduled for rec- the awareness of archives within the coun- ords storage. The facility houses the ad- try by promoting educational workshops and ministrative offices, Records Storage seminars, hosting symposia and seminars, Section, Repair and Preservation Unit, Mi- and becoming an active player in the South crofilming and Photostating Unit, Publi- and West Asia Regional Branch of the In- cation Units, Private Collections Section, ternational Council on Archives (SWAR- Newspapers and Periodicals Section, and BICA). an exhibit hall. Separate reorganizations occurred in 1977 The staff of the National Archives of and 1979, when the National Archives of Pakistan consists of twenty-one officers— Pakistan was first moved into a bungalow nineteen of whom are professional archi- in the residential section of , and vists with some training or education in ar- then (in 1979) into a 20,000 cubic foot fac- chival methods. tory in the commercial section of Islama- The collection policy of the National Ar- bad. Shortly after this second move, plans chives of Pakistan is divided into three cat- were formulated for the construction of a egories: public records, newspapers and formal National Archives of Pakistan periodicals, and private collections. building to be built in the secretariat block Public records is a growing area of col- in Islamabad. The administrative building lecting for the National Archives of Paki- of the National Archives of Pakistan was stan. Prior to 1974, not a single file was completed in 1988; ground was scheduled transferred from any government office to to be broken in 1990 for the NAP storage the National Archives of Pakistan; the dis- facility. position of records was made on an ad hoc Located in the new and surprisingly clean ministry-by-ministry basis. Initial efforts in city of Islamabad, the location of the Na- records management have resulted in ten tional Archives of Pakistan administration ministries actively transferring material to building is a clue to the status of the pro- the archives. Materials usually transferred gram. The building is located in the N-block are "A" category materials, considered to of the Pak Secretariat in Islamabad, a rel- be the vital (and permanent) records of a atively undeveloped section of the Secre- ministry. Such materials are transferred to tariat, situated at the base of the foothills the archives after five years and micro- of the . Security in the Secretar- filmed for security reasons. The hard copy Chinese and American Approaches to Archives 223

is retained and the material is cataloged for days as a student in England until his death, use by the ministry. The material remains just shortly after independence, in 1948. under restriction (for use only by the min- Reflecting its popularity with researchers, istry) for a period of thirty years, after which the collection has been processed and is it is open to researchers. available for research. A descriptive cata-

A pending bill before the National As- logue (to the item level) and an accession Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/american-archivist/article-pdf/54/2/220/2748228/aarc_54_2_8777g4340j634450.pdf by guest on 29 September 2021 sembly, entitled "Archival Legislation," list are available from the National Ar- seeks to place tighter controls on the trans- chives of Pakistan for a nominal charge.4 fer, destruction, and/or retention of the rec- The private papers of Jinnah's sister, Miss ords of the ministries. This legislation calls , are also available at the Na- for the transfer of all permanent records of tional Archives of Pakistan. Fatima Jinnah the ministries to the archives and the erec- was her brother's life-long companion, and tion of a records management system that considered by many as his only confidante would oversee the eventual disposition of in certain political matters. She served as the records.3 an elected delegate to the Bombay Prov- The acquisition and microfilming of incial Muslim League Council and was in- newspapers and periodicals represents the strumental in establishing colleges and largest area of activity for the National Ar- schools throughout Pakistan, most of which chives of Pakistan. The collection dates from were for women. She also coordinated ef- the prepartition days of British rule and in- forts and sought to provide services for cludes such papers as Pioneer (published Muslim emigrating to Pakistan in in Allahabad from 1895-1933); Civil & 1947. This collection details the political Military Gazette (1873-1932); Indian Pub- life of Pakistan from the death of Muham- lic Opinion (1866-76); and the Mofussilite mad Ali Jinnah in 1948 until his sister's (1848-73). Likewise, the filming of con- death in 1967. temporary newspapers such as the Pakistan Other private collections of note include Times, the Dawn, the Muslim, and the Jung the Ahmad Hamid Lakha (a Karyana mer- (in Urdu) is also a part of this project. chant from Hyderabad) Collection of nearly Besides overseeing the transfer and se- 450 volumes of printed material, scrap- curity microfilming of governmental rec- books, periodicals, and photographs con- ords and the preservation microfilming of cerning the (the newspapers and periodicals, the National collection is in six languages—English, Archives of Pakistan also has an acquisi- Urdu, Sindhi, Gujrati, Pushto, and Pun- tions committee charged with the collecting jabi); the Khalil-ur-Rehman Dawoodi Col- of private manuscript collections. There is lection, consisting of 1,350 volumes on the competition for such collections within history of in India (mostly in Urdu, Pakistan, especially among the museums Persian, , and Punjabi); and a newly and provincial archives. acquired Oral History Archive, consisting The largest private collection, the Quaid- of interviews with people involved in the i-Azam Papers, consists of approximately Pakistan Freedom Movement. thirty-seven containers of material span- Researchers attempting to gain access to ning Muhammad Ali Jinnah's life from his the materials in the National Archives of

3Bccause the legislation was not yet debated by the descriptive Catalogue of Quaid-i-Azam Papers, v. National Assembly, it was considered "confiden- I-V (Islamabad, Pakistan: National Archives of Pak- tial."Atique Zafar Sheikh, director general of the Na- istan, 1971-87); Accession List of Quaid-i-Azam Pa- tional Archives of Pakistan and one of the drafters of pers, v. I-IV (Islamabad, Pakistan: National Archives the bill, offered this information. of Pakistan, 1971-73). 224 American Archivist / Spring 1991

Pakistan can expect courteous treatment. All administration building, with a similar requests for visits are handled directly by traveling exhibit being offered in such cit- the National Archives of Pakistan, thus ies as , Lahore, , Rawal- avoiding endless delays from a burgeoning pindi, and . Educational materials on bureaucracy. Materials not currently under the , including photo- restrictions are immediately accessible, and graphic histories and monographs by noted Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/american-archivist/article-pdf/54/2/220/2748228/aarc_54_2_8777g4340j634450.pdf by guest on 29 September 2021 some collections which have been micro- historians, have been distributed to numer- filmed may even be accessible at other sites ous schools in the country.6 in the country, on loan from the National Published finding aids to the larger col- Archives of Pakistan. lections are available at very reasonable The National Archives of Pakistan also costs. A complete (item level) catalog of boasts a strong conservation program. The the Jinnah papers is available in five vol- microfilming of public records from the umes, as is an accession list to the collec- ministries (for security purposes) as well as tion. An inventory of the microfilm holdings that of newspapers and the private collec- of the National Archives of Pakistan is also tion has resulted in more than 7,000 rolls available and includes published volumes of microfilm. The National Archives of held in both the reading room and library.7 Pakistan has on staff a full-time conserva- In 1984 the National Archives of Paki- tion officer, trained as a chemist with ed- stan also began to publish a scholarly jour- ucation in preservation science received nal, the Pakistan Archives. Publication abroad. The result has been astounding; in ceased from 1985 to 1988 after two issues a country where acid-free paper and stock but was scheduled to resume again in 1989. is not available (and importing is finan- The first issue presents both the views cially prohibitive), the National Archives of foreigners toward Pakistan's archives and of Pakistan has stabilized many of its col- an overview of the archival scene in Paki- lections and greatly reduced many conser- stan offered by Pakistanis. The issue in- vation hazards, primarily through cludes articles by A. W. Mabbs of the Public preservation microfilming. A two-week Records Office in England (and former practicum on the "Conservation and Pres- president of the International Council on ervation of Archival Material" was spon- Archives), B. C. Bloomfield, director of sored by the National Archives of Pakistan the India Office of Library and Records in in July 1980 for archivists throughout Pak- on sources available concerning istan. A collection of lectures given at this Pakistan among his collection, and a report workshop has been published, and includes on a fact-finding mission on archives in lectures on fumigation and cleaning, paper Pakistan funded by the Pakistani govern- testing and dating, laminating processes, and ment and conducted by Martin Moir, dep- binding.5 uty archivist of the India Office of Library In addition to serving as a central repo- and Records.8 sitory for archival records, the National Ar- chives of Pakistan has also sought to publicize its holdings and promote their use 6Great Leaders and Great Cities (Islamabad, Pak- for researchers. A permanent exhibit on the istan: National Archives of Pakistan, in Urdu, n.d.); Pakistan Movement opened in the new Movement for Pakistan (Islamabad, Pakistan: Na- tional Archives of Pakistan, in Urdu, n.d.). ''Microfilm Holdings of the National Archives of Pakistan, v. 1 (Islamabad, Pakistan: National Ar- chives of Pakistan, 1976). 5Ali Ashraf, and Masood Ahmad Khan, Conser- 8Much of the material in the first volume of the vation and Restoration of Archival Material (Islama- Pakistan Archives is derived from papers delivered at bad, Pakistan: National Archives of Pakistan, 1980). three major conferences held in Pakistan and hosted Chinese and American Approaches to Archives 225

Ahmad Hasan Dani's essay provides a tively, the articles in this first volume of useful introduction to the potential role of the Pakistan Archives provide a compre- archives in Pakistani culture. He focuses hensive inventory of archival holdings in upon the obscure and somewhat unsubstan- Pakistan.11 tial documentation in Pakistan available from The National Archives of Pakistan is also mosques and calls on archives to assume a actively involved in the International Coun- Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/american-archivist/article-pdf/54/2/220/2748228/aarc_54_2_8777g4340j634450.pdf by guest on 29 September 2021 tripartite responsibility: to preserve "the cil on Archives (ICA) and is serving as host whole process of man's striving towards country for the UNESCO/ICA sponsored his motivation;" "preserving the depth of "Guide to Sources on Asian History" proj- feeling and ... the freshness of ect. The project is a part of the "Guide to human perception;" and "for transmitting Sources of History of Nations" project in- the whole tradition, for preserving the ac- itiated in 1959. In 1979, after two feasi- tual work of human activity in the words bility studies determined that such a project of the actors themselves." Dani, who is was attainable, archivists from Bangla- professor emeritus at Quaid-i-Azam Uni- desh, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, , versity in Islamabad, concludes by calling Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, and Sri archives "the repository of the inner move- Lanka outlined the scope of the project, ments that have inspired the nations to make which included the implementation of the themselves what they are."9 Regional Coordinating Committee. Atique The remaining six articles in the first is- Zafar Sheikh, director general of the Na- sue provide a thorough inventory of the tional Archives of Pakistan, is chair of this major holding of the National Archives of committee. The project will also include Pakistan, the Punjab Provincial Archives, China, the Republics of Korea and Thai- the government records and private collec- land, and will include summary descrip- tions of the holdings of public archives, tions available in the Baluchistan Provin- archives of semi-public bodies, libraries, cial Archives, the museums, universities, and private ar- (in Karachi), and the Provincial Archives chives (political, religious, and business ar- of the Northwest Frontier Province (NWFP). chives).12 The guides to each country are The second issue in volume one also pro- to be published in English and/or French, vides essays on the holding of other repo- and the national language of the country sitories in Pakistan, including the Lahore where possible. Museum, the Library of the , Peshawar University, Quaid-i- From its inception in 1973, Atique Zafar Azam Academy, the Punjab Record Office Sheikh has guided the National Archives (Lahore), the Punjab Board of Revenue of Pakistan into a position of prominence (Lahore), and the Allama Iqbal Museum among the archival community in South and the Iqbal Academy (Lahore).10 Collec- Asia. In the face of such adversity as pov-

the national poet and philosopher of Pakistan. He served by the National Archives of Pakistan: the International as president of the All-India Muslim League, and in Symposium on Archives held in February 1982, the his speech at the 1930 Allahabad meeting of the League Second General Conference of SWARBICA (South he called for "a consolidated Muslim State in the best and West Asian Regional Branch of the International interest of India and ." Council on Archives), and the second meeting of the "These issues have been donated by the author to Regional Coordinating Committee of the Guide to the Bentley Historical Library's collection of foreign Sources in Asian History. archival journals at the University of Michigan. These 'Ahmad Hasan Dani, "Archives—Its Place in the journals are available to interested archivists through Cultural Heritage of the Country," Pakistan Archives Interlibrary Loan. I (January-June 1984): 16-17. 12Only , Iraq, , Maldives, and Bhu- '" (1876-1938) is recognized as tan are not participating in the project. 226 American Archivist / Spring 1991

erty, illiteracy, and a twelve-year period of problems presented by a new prime min- martial law, the National Archives of Pak- ister, a newly formed coalition govern- istan has grown from a one-room cell of ment, increasing tensions with India, and historical papers to a bustling and impor- Afghan refugees flooding their borders. tant archival repository. The future of the Pakistan, having developed from a gradu- program, aided somewhat by the with- ate student's idea to a country holding a Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/american-archivist/article-pdf/54/2/220/2748228/aarc_54_2_8777g4340j634450.pdf by guest on 29 September 2021 drawal of martial law and the introduction position of world (and possibly nuclear) of the archival legislation, holds much power in the period of forty-four years has promise. experienced hardship, turmoil, and even In light of its long history of paradox and martial law. Yet, through all of this, the struggle, the future of Pakistan remains un- National Archives of Pakistan continues to certain. Pakistanis are far from political document the struggle and paradoxes that stability, and now must grapple with the have marked this country.