Islamabad, Jan 11 (IANS): Pakistan's founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah, also called "Quaid-e-Azam", had a British passport and took an oath of allegiance to British King George VI after assuming charge as the first governor-general of independent Pakistan, a politician has said.

Defending public criticism for holding dual nationality, Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain said former prime minister Nawaz Sharif lived with his family in Saudi Arabia on a "diplomatic passport" for a long time, Geo News reported.

In a telephonic address from London, Hussain said Jinnah also had a British passport.

The MQM chief read out the oath taken by Jinnah after assuming charge as the governor-general of Pakistan in 1947.

He said Jinnah took an oath of allegiance to British King George VI.

Hussain read out a provision of the Indian Independence Act, 1947, that stated that the office of governor-general in each of the two new countries - Pakistan and India - was a representative of the British Crown.

Cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan, however, said the MQM chief had distorted history.

"The oath taken by the Quaid-e-Azam was determined by the fact that the independence of Pakistan in 1947 was not complete," the Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaaf chief told the Dawn.

"Both India and Pakistan had attained quasi independence and became dominions of the British empire. It was for this reason that the Quaid became governor-general and not the president," Imran said.

"The governor-general was nominally a representative of the British monarch and this fact was reflected in the oath taken by both the Pakistani governor-general and Indian Governor General Mountbatten," he said.