Two Indian Doctors Nominated for Pakistan's Nishan-e-Imtiaz over Jinnah Illness Secrecy

Pakistan nominated two Mumbai-based Parsi physicians, Dr Jal Ratanji Patel and Dr Jal Dhaybhoy-Koo, for the Nishan-e-Imtiaz, its highest civilian honour, for keeping Muhammad Ali Jinnah's terminal illness confidential before Partition. In 1946 the doctors diagnosed Jinnah with advanced tuberculosis from his X-rays and never disclosed it; historians argue that had the Congress leadership known Jinnah was dying, the negotiations that culminated in the 1947 Partition might have unfolded very differently. Jinnah, Pakistan's first Governor-General, died on 11 September 1948, barely thirteen months after Independence. The award will be conferred posthumously in March 2027.