Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan has said that Quaide Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah “had cancer and he kept it a secret from everybody”, in a blunder that has left Twitterati wondering if the premier is oblivious to what Jinnah really had — tuberculosis.
Speaking at Asia Society in New York on Thursday, PM Imran said that Jinnah was his role model who had a mission and joined politics for it alone. “He was in it for the mission, not the fame or power. Dreamers change the world, but career politicians never do.”
“He [Jinnah] didn’t tell anyone that he was battling cancer because he had a dream he wanted to fulfill,” the premier added, landing himself in crosshairs of netizens, who criticised the premier for “not knowing that Jinnah did not have cancer”.
Here’s what they had to say:
Another “thanked god for Imran not saying that Jinnah got treated at Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital”.
This is not the first time PM Imran has said that Jinnah had cancer. A few months ago, he had said that the founder of Pakistan “didn’t disclose that he was suffering from cancer so that the enemy couldn’t create hurdles and delay the process of creation of Pakistan”.
JINNAH’S DEATH:
From the 1930s, Jinnah suffered from tuberculosis; only his sister and a few others close to him were aware of his condition. Jinnah believed public knowledge of his lung ailments would hurt him politically.
Tuberculosis is a disease caused by bacteria called Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The bacteria usually attack the lungs, but they can also damage other parts of the body.
As his health deteriorated over time, Jinnah passed away in Karachi on September 11, 1948, at the age of 71, just over a year after Pakistan’s creation.
