Adil Najam
Back in June 2009 I had first written by Prof. Jagan Nath Azad, who had been asked by the Quaid, Mr. Mohammed Ali Jinnah, to write the very first national anthem of Pakistan. Prof. Azad’s Aé sarzameené paak was, in fact, Pakistan’s first national anthem, until it was later replaced by the current anthem. Prof. Jagan Nath Azad, a Punjabi Hindu, later migrated to India but remained a staunch advocate of Indo-Pakistan friendship (see videos here).
At that point I had not been able to find a copy of the full tarana and since then I as well as other readers have been eagerly looking for a copy. Today, reader Adil Mulki found one here and I am delighted to share it with our readers (thanks also to Heritage Online where it was posted; Reader Shahid now alerts me that thanks are also due to ATP friend Beena Sarwar who originally uncovered this via Prof. Azad’s son Chander K. Azad, here):
An English transliteration is provided below for those who cannot read Urdu. I look forward to readers helping out with an actual translation.
Aye sar zameen-i-Pak
Zare tere hain aaj sitaron se tabnak
Roshan hai kehkashan se kahin aaj teri khak
Tundi-e-hasdan pe ghalib hai tera swaak
Daman wo sil gaya hai jo tha mudaton se chaak
Aye sar zameen-i-Pak!Ab apne azm ko hai naya rasta pasand
Apna watan hai aaj zamane main sar buland
Pohncha sake ga is ko na koi bhi ab gazand
Apna alm a hai chand sitaron se bhi buland
Ab ham ko dekhtey hain atarad hon ya samaak
Aye sar zameen-i-Pak!Utra hai imtehan main watan aaj kamyab
Ab huriat ki zulf nahin mahiv-e-paich-o-taab
Daulat hai apne mulk ki be had-o-be hisaab
Hon ge ham aap mulk ki daulat se faiz yab
Maghrib se hum ko khauf na mashriq se hum ko baak
Aye sar zameen-i-Pak!Apne watan ka aaj badalne laga nizam
apne watan main aaj nahin hai koi ghulam
apna watan hai rah-e-taraqi pe tez gam
azad, bamurad jawan bakht shad kaam
ab itr bez hain jo hawain thin zehr naak
Aye sar zameen-i-Pak!Zare tere hain aaj sitaron se tabnak
Roshan hai kehkashan se kahin aaj teri khak
Aye sar zameen-i-Pak!
P.S. Would it not be really wonderful if we could also find an audio recording from when it was the national anthem!
@Jawad: I don’t see any relevance between the Naji’s column and Safdar Mahmood’s column. They wrote on two different topics altogether. Also there is a new column by Safdar Mahmood, have a look and then decide. Truth should speak for itself.
Dr.Safdar Mehmood wrote a column challenging this notion which is presented here.
http://jang.com.pk/jang/jun2010-daily/06-06-2010/c ol4.htm
Here is the column that explains why Safdar Mahmood is raising his unsubstantiated claim and why he is trying to belie this:
http://criticalppp.org/lubp/?p=316
Another storm in a tea cup.
We have sold off all of Jinnah’s ideas and the real enemies of Jinnah and Jinnah’s Paksiatn – the miullahs and the Taliban – are now defining what Pakistan should be. And THIS is the thing to get all excited about.
Wah bhai wah. What would the Quaid want us to be discussing today: this silly little thing or the menace of the evil Taliban destroying the country he created.
@Watan Aziz: Again, if there is something worthwhile bring it out. Otherwise it is just waste of bytes.
@Asad: May be you are right however, facts don’t seem to acknowledge the claim made by Jagannath’s son. May be he has written a poem (which is already posted in the actual post) but it is not a proof that this was our national anthem.
Debate can go on and on but truth of the story is only Jagannath’s son is the one who is making this claim through Beena Sarwar (one source can’t be sufficient)