The National Archives of Pakistan ( ur, ) is a body established by the

Government of Pakistan The Government of Pakistan ( ur, , translit=hakúmat-e pákistán) abbreviated as GoP, is a federal government established by the Constitution of Pakistan as a constituted governing authority of the four provinces, two autonomous territorie ...

for the purpose of preserving and making available public and private records which have bearings on the

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

culture Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these groups ...

and

heritage Heritage may refer to: History and society * A heritage asset is a preexisting thing of value today ** Cultural heritage is created by humans ** Natural heritage is not * Heritage language Biology * Heredity, biological inheritance of physical c ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

. Located in

Islamabad Islamabad (; ur, , ) is the capital city of Pakistan. It is the country's ninth-most populous city, with a population of over 1.2 million people, and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capital ...

, the National Archives of Pakistan is a member of the

International Council on Archives The International Council on Archives (ICA; French: ''Conseil international des archives'') is an international non-governmental organization which exists to promote international cooperation for archives and archivists. It was set up in 1948, wi ...

.National Archives of Pakistan website
Retrieved 27 June 2017 Some of its stated functions are the acquisition, preservation, conservation, reprography, restoration, automation, dissemination and access of documents. NAP is also responsible for the facilitation of important state documents and collections of dated files.'National Archives of Pakistan: Practical issues limit access to historic documents', The Express Tribune newspaper
Published 28 March 2011, Retrieved 27 June 2017

History

The Directorate of Archives and Libraries was established in 1951 under the Ministry of Education. On 8 December 1973, the directorate was divided into two which gave rise to a separate National Archives under the authority of the Cabinet Division. A major newspaper of Pakistan reported, "Despite the existence of the National Archives Act 1993 and the Archives Material (Preservation and Export Control) Act 1975, government ministries have been lax in transferring documents to NAP."

Organization

Director General (BPS 20) heads National Archives of Pakistan. It is organized into 3 departments for record keeping, conservation, reprography and administration/accounts.

Public Record Wing

Public Record Wing, also known as Public Collection Wing, manage the acquisition, preservation and review of public record activities.

Private Collections Wing

Private Collections Wing is responsible for acquisition of private collections having national or historical significance.

Technical Wing

Technical Wing is responsible to provide technical support to other departments. Technical Wing is subdivided into 3 sections. * Microfilming * Repair and Preservation section * Oral Archives

National Archives Library

National Archives Library has 19000 books, mainly on history of Indo-Pak Subcontinent.

Important collections at the NAP

The National Archives of Pakistan (NAP) houses the following important collections, among others: * The

Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah (, ; born Mahomedali Jinnahbhai; 25 December 1876 – 11 September 1948) was a barrister, politician, and the founder of Pakistan. Jinnah served as the leader of the All-India Muslim League from 1913 until the ...

papers * The

Fatima Jinnah Fatima Jinnah ( ur, ; 31 July 1893 – 9 July 1967), widely known as Māder-e Millat ("Mother of the Nation"), was a Pakistani stateswoman, politician, dental surgeon and one of the leading founders of Pakistan. She was the younger sister of ...

papers * The Ruttie Jinnah papers * The

Muslim League Muslim League may refer to: Political parties Subcontinent ; British India *All-India Muslim League, Mohammed Ali Jinah, led the demand for the partition of India resulting in the creation of Pakistan. **Punjab Muslim League, a branch of the organ ...

leaders' papers/correspondence * The National Freedom Movement archives * The

Allama Iqbal Sir Muhammad Iqbal ( ur, ; 9 November 187721 April 1938), was a South Asian Muslim writer, philosopher, Quote: "In Persian, ... he published six volumes of mainly long poems between 1915 and 1936, ... more or less complete works on philos ...

papers * The

Abol Hassan Ispahani Mirza Abul Hassan Ispahani (1902-1981) ( ur, ) was a Pakistani politician and diplomat who served as an ambassador of Pakistan to the United States. Early life and family Born in a Ispahani family, he was educated at St John's College, Cam ...

papers * The Shams ul Hassan collection (papers, documents, photographs and other archival material etc.) * The Mufti Fazal Azeem collection * The Lakha collection * The Malik Lal Khan collection * The Nawab Waqar ul Mulk collection * The Dawoodi collection * The Mian Afzal Hussain collection * The Manzoor ul Haq Siddiqui collection * The Muhammad Siddique collection * The Atiq Zafar Sheikh collection * The Hassan Zaheer collection * The

Ehsan Danish Ehsan Danish (, 2 February 1914 – 22 March 1982), born Ehsan-ul-Haq ), was an Urdu poet, prose writer, linguist, lexicographer and scholar from Pakistan. Ehsan Danish had penned down over 100 scholastic books on poetry, prose, linguistics, le ...

collection * The Aziz Beg collection * The Sojan Singh Bedi collection * The Azra Asghar collection * The Kaleem collection * The

Begum Mahmooda Salim Khan Begum Mahmooda Salim Khan ( ur, بیگم محمودہ سلیم خان; May 1913 – June 2007) was a Pakistani social worker, early political figure and a cabinet minister in West Pakistan for education during President Ayub Khan's regime. Bac ...

collection * Microfilms of newspapers

Activities

NAP has participated in more than 50 international conferences, seminars, symposium and workshopsmore than 50 international conferences, seminars, symposium and workshops, and hosted International Symposium on Archives 1982 (participated 13 countries), 1989 SWARBICA Regional Seminar on Training Needs and Policies (participated by 7 countries) and 1991 SAARC Seminar on Archives.

References

External links

* Archives in Pakistan Buildings and structures in Islamabad Pakistan federal departments and agencies

1973 establishments in Pakistan Government agencies established in 1973 {{Pakistan-gov-stub