MUMBAI: Pakistan's state-run broadcaster had asked All India Radio (AIR) for the historic speech in which Pakistan's founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah had addressed the Constituent Assembly on 11 August 1947, three days before the creation of Pakistan.

A report released by BBC today states that AIR does not have any recordings of the speech in which Jinnah had said people could follow any religion without state interference. "You are free; you are free to go to your temples, you are free to go to your mosques or to any other place of worship in this state of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion or caste or creed, that has nothing to do with the business of the state."

Pakistani officials said they had first contacted BBC for the speech. Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation director general Murtaza Solangi told Press Trust of India that the British broadcaster was unable to locate it in its extensive archives. He then turned to All India Radio, which operated stations across the subcontinent before Partition.

"I had received a call from Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation asking for a recording done on a certain date, but we don't have the tape with us," AIR director general LD Mandloi told BBC.

"We will inform the Prasar Bharati [Indian government broadcasting authority] and it is up to them to take it forward and inform Pakistan," he said.

"This[Jinnah]  speech is very important for people who want to direct the country[Pakistan]  to the goal of a modern, pluralistic, democratic state," Solangi earlier told PTI.

Solangi said that in 1947, radio stations in what is now Pakistan did not have proper recording facilities and hence they do not have a copy of the historic speech.