From the archives of the Hindustan Times: September 12
Mr Jinnah Dead (12-09-1948)
Karachi- We regret having to announce the death of Mr Mohammed Ali Jinnah, Governor-General of Pakistan, at 10-25 p.m. yesterday in Karachi, following a heart attack.
A court circular issued from Government House, Karachi, at 8-30 p.m. had stated that Mr. Jinnah and Miss Fatima Jinnah returned to Karachi from Ziarat in the evening.
An official announcement stated: “The Government of Pakistan regret to announce the death of Quaid-e-Azam Mohammed Ali Jinnah from heart failure at 10-25 p.m. on Saturday, September 11.
“The funeral procession will start at 3 p.m. on Sunday from the Governor-General’s House.
“The Namaz-e-Janaza (funeral prayer) will be held at Exhibition Grounds in Karachi.
“Maulana Shabbir Ahmed Osmani will lead the prayer. The Quaid-e-Azam will be buried within the compound of the proposed Jumma Mosque near Exhibition Grounds.
“The Government would like to stress that the best homage the public can pay to the memory of the Father of the Nation is to observe discipline and self-restraint when attending the funeral procession and funeral prayer.”
Mahadevi Verma dead (12-09-1987)
Noted Hindi poetess Mahadevi Verma died at her residence here tonight (September 11) after a protracted illness. The 80-year-old Jnanpith Award winner had been in stupor for the last six days.
Her condition deteriorated this afternoon with her blood pressure sinking low. She had also developed respiratory problem.
Dr.B.L Agrawal, one of the doctors attending on her said Mrs. Verma died of circulatory arrest and asphyxia around 9.30 p.m.
According to a district administration spokesman, Mrs Verma will be cremated with full State honours though the date of cremation has not been decided.
Popularly known as Meera of the Hindi poetry, Mrs. Verma had been suffering from thyroid deficiency, congestion of lungs and spondylitis for the last three years.
The octogenarian poetess, who was conferred the Padma Bhushan Award also in 1956, lapsed into semi-stupor on September 6.
Some signs of improvement in her health were noticed yesterday but her condition started deteriorating again this afternoon.
Mahadevi Verma, the Jnanpith Award Winner in 1982. Was one of the last surviving members of the illustrious charter of Chhavavad (romantic) poetry.
Born at Farrukhabad in Uttar Pradesh on the day of Holi in 1907, she along with Sumitra Nandan Pant and Surya Kant Tripathi “Nirala”, was the main architect of the Golden era of “Khadi Boli”. The trio gave the language a new dimension bringing to it tenderness, romanticism and mysticism.
The Bharatiya Jnanpith Award, some felt, came as a belated recognition for her poetic genius. She was chosen for the prestigious award for her distinguished work “Yama”, a collection of outstanding poems first published in 1939 and the fifth edition of which was brought out in the late seventies.
Rated as a landmark of Hindi literature, this monumental work also showed her great talent as an artist.
American Under Attack (12-09-2001)
US President George Bush said the explosions were an “apparent terrorist attack” and said “terrorism against our nation will not stand”. He promised the US would hunt down those responsible.
A Boeing 767, also believed to have been hijacked, also crashed in western Pennsylvania.
The attacks began shortly before 9 a.m. local time (2 p.m. EST), when two hijacked passenger planes flew directly into the upper floors of the World Trade Center towers in the heart of New York’s financial district.
Shortly afterwards in Washington DC an aircraft hit the helicopter pad at the Pentagon. One side of the five-sided US military headquarters collapsed and there are an unknown number of casualties.
A third explosion in New York an hour after the initial crashes brought the south tower of the World Trade Center crashing to the ground. A witness said he saw bodies falling from the towers and people jumping out. Minutes later, the Center’s north tower also collapsed.
“I just saw the building I work in come down,” said businessman Gabriel loan, outside City Hall, with a cloud of smoke and ash from the World Trade Center behind him. “I just saw the top of Trade Two come down.”
The ash was two to three inches deep in places. People wandered dazed and terrified.
Senator Chuck Hagel said: “This is the second Pearl Harbour. I don’t think that I overstate it.”
Authorities had been trying to evacuate the 50,000 people who work in the twin towers. New Yorkers have been told to head to the north of the city away from the disaster zone, and bridges and tunnels in Manhattan have been closed amid fears of further attacks.