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Pakistan's 75th anniversary note
October 24, 2022 @ 15:47
Pakistan issued a 75 rupee banknote (34 US cents, 35 Euro cents) to commemorate the country’s anniversary of independence. The obverse features four national heroes of Pakistan and a slightly modified take on the country’s official 75th anniversary celebration logo. Those four people are Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Allama Sir Muhammad Iqbal, Mohtarma Fatima Jinnah and Sir Syed Ahmed Khan. While Jinnah has been on every standard issue Pakistani banknote (except one, for some reason) since 1957, the other three personalities are new. To the left is Jinnah’s younger sister, Mohtarma Fatima Jinnah, the first woman on a Pakistani banknote. Or, looking at it another way, the first three specific people besides Muhammad Ali Jinnah on any post-1957 Pakistani banknote. Further left sits Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, in a photo from 1907 - a pioneer of Muslim nationalism in what was then British India. Iqbal, at right, was a national poet and had his portrait on the banknote taken from a drawing in a museum in Lahore. The reverse of the banknote is themed “Saving climate and Species” and shows both a Markhoor goat and a Deodar tree. Both national symbols, and both are going extinct. Artist Sara Khan Pathan drew the themes on the reverse in pen and ink using images found online. The bank heavily edited the artwork before printing.
At the right, an example of the obverse showing the detail and crispness intaglio result. The security strip includes the "75" logo.
All Pakistani banknotes include a quote about earning an honest living equating to worship, and a rumor spread online that this banknote doesn’t include the quote - the bank was quick to note that it’s on the back in a circle. The banknote was announced on the date of the anniversary in August, but didn’t come up for about 6 more weeks. They kept having trouble printing them. This was the first Pakistani banknote printed using intaglio on the obverse, but offset printing on the reverse. First, a ruling from the Government Finance Division in May announced they should be printed on local paper, which is often low quality. Second, special green ink was sourced from the Swiss company SICPA but the color wouldn’t adjust or stick to the paper during the offset printing process, so the reverse had to be reworked and looks washed out or just simply run through a copy machine. An employee at the Pakistan Security Printing Corp. anonymously said “the look of this banknote is not so good”. What it was supposed to look like is shown here, followed by the final product.
The original reverse, meant to be printed using the offset technique, but scrapped after ink problems (image from the State Bank of Pakistan):
The final, printed using offset technique.
