 From the 1930s , Jinnah suffered from tuberculosis ; only his sister and a few others close to him were aware of his condition . Jinnah believed public knowledge of his lung ailments would hurt him politically . In a 1938 letter , he wrote to a supporter that " you must have read in the papers how during my tours ... I suffered , which was not because there was anything wrong with me , but the irregularities [ of the schedule ] and over @-@ strain told upon my health " . Many years later , Mountbatten stated that if he had known Jinnah was so physically ill , he would have stalled , hoping Jinnah 's death would avert partition . Fatima Jinnah later wrote , " even in his hour of triumph , the Quaid @-@ e @-@ Azam was gravely ill ... He worked in a frenzy to consolidate Pakistan . And , of course , he totally neglected his health ... " Jinnah worked with a tin of Craven " A " cigarettes at his desk , of which he had smoked 50 or more a day for the previous 30 years , as well as a box of Cuban cigars . As his health got worse , he took longer and longer rest breaks in the private wing of Government House in Karachi , where only he , Fatima and the servants were allowed . 
