New Delhi: In a quaint footnote, the Supreme Court of India judgment upholding terrorist Ajmal Kasab's death sentence, reflected on the emotional connection Pakistan's creator Muhammad Ali Jinnah had with the grand Taj Mahal Hotel where his second wife Rattanbai Petit (Ruttie) agreed to marry him.
"It is reported that it was at the Taj Mahal Hotel ballroom that, on February 20, 1918, at her eighteenth birthday party, Ruttie had accepted Mr Jinnahs hand in marriage while the band was playing the Chopin tune, So Deep is the Night," the SC judgment said.
Ruttie was 24 years his junior and the daughter of his personal friend Sir Dinshaw Petit, of an eminent Parsi family of Mumbai. She went against her family's wishes to marry Jinnah.
"It is also reported that both Mr. Jinnah, the creator of Pakistan, and Mrs. Sarojini Naidu, the President of the Indian National Congress, often held court at Taj Mahal Hotel. Mr. Jinnah also had an intimate connection with Mazgaon, where the bomb planted by two terrorists in a taxi exploded, killing three (3) and wounding nineteen (19) people. It is reported that Mr. Jinnah devoted Thursday afternoons to visiting the grave of his wife Ruttie at the Khoja Shiite Isna'ashri Cemetry, situated at Mazgaon, Mumbai....
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03:50 PM, Aug 30, 2012
Washington: US shares Jinnah's goal of a vibrant and self-reliant Pakistan, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said while conveying Washington's Independence Day greetings to the government and people of the country. "Muhammad Ali Jinnah dreamt of a vibrant, self-reliant Pakistan, a goal we all share," Clinton said in her Independence Day greetings to the people of Pakistan. "On behalf of President Obama and the people of the United States, I...
12:12 AM, Aug 14, 2012
Islamabad: Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani said on Sunday that Pakistan's future lies in democracy and that parliament, the judiciary and the executive were on the same page to consolidate the country's democratic institutions. In his message on Pakistan's 65th Independence Day, he also said the country has successfully taken on the challenge of terrorism and extremism in line with its national interest and global commitments, APP reported. Gilani...
12:59 PM, Aug 14, 2011
In a meeting with party men in Bhopal, Ramesh equated Jinnah to Shiva. ... 
London: Worcestershire have re-signed Saeed Ajmal following the off-spinner's clutch of wickets for Pakistan in their Test series whitewash of England. Ajmal will join the Midlands county as their second overseas player for the domestic Twenty20 competition, along with Australia batsman Phil Hughes who will be at New Road for the whole of the 2012 English county season. The in-form Ajmal took 24 wickets in Pakistan's 3-0 rout of England... 
