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!
Asim Kamran, I would like to tell that this is the first national anthem of Pakistan which was not adopted,though he was a Hindu and choosed to live in India,his anthem was replaced by the one wrote by Hafeez Jalhandhri.
This helped me a lot
AOA
I agree with brother Asim Kamran. Dr. Aqeel ahmad jaffri’s research didnt find any documented proof if Qaid e Azam actually requested him to write national antham for pakistan. Archives from Lahore and Peshawar radio stations, the two working radio stations in pakistan at the time of partitions do not have any records of this antham being aired at that time. It is said that it was aired from Karachi radio station which as per Mr. Jaffri’s research started broadcasting year after the Independence. Peronally i would have had any problem with Jagan nath azad writing the anthem but i am not sure if it is a historical fact.
Allah knows best
takecare
Asjad
AoA,
I would like to bring to your attention that Dr. Aqeel Ahmed Jaffri has performed an investigation about the origin of the national anthem through his book “Pakistan ka qoumi tarana. Kya he Haqiqut Kya he Fasana”. Please correct your record. The national anthem was written by Hafeez Jalundari not Jagan Nath Azad.
Please refer to this article from BBC Urdu website http://www.bbc.co.uk/urdu/pakistan/2011/08/110813_ pakistan_antham_sen.shtml . I would recommend that you should read the book as well.
Take care
http://khurramsdesk.blogspot.com/
Khurram’s Desk
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2010
National anthem: fact and fiction
For some time now, some secularists in Pakistan have been suggesting that (a) Jinnah was in favor of secularism, and therefore (b) he commissioned a Hindu poet to write the national anthem of Pakistan but it was replaced by the present anthem after Jinnah’s death.
Therefore, it is rather serendipitous that two well-researched books should come out at the same time, each addressing a different half of this statement separately (and both having long titles, but that is beside the point):
Secular Jinnah and Pakistan: What the Nation Doesn’t Know by the British Pakistani writer Saleena Karim is a 317-page study about whether Quaid-i-Azam Jinnah wanted Pakistan to be a secular state.
Pakistan Ka Qaumi Tarana: Kiya Hai Haqeeqat, Kya Hai Fasana by Aqeel Abbas Jafri is a 104-page analytical presentation of archival resources about the national anthem of Pakistan.
The first book is in English, and the second is in Urdu, and let’s begin with the second. Although he is little known abroad, Jafri ‘s name has become synonymous with archival research in Pakistan. One of his most recent crowning achievements is the Urdu Chronicle of Pakistan, which presents a chronological illustrated history of the country since 1947.
In Qaumi Tarana (allow me to refer to the book by this short title), Jafri shows with conclusive documentary evidence that:
Pakistan did not have a national anthem in the lifetime of Jinnah.
The present national anthem was the first to be officially adopted by the state.
There is no evidence to show that any poem by Jagan Nath Azad was played from radio on 14 or 15 August at all.
Some of the findings of this book were earlier shared by Jafri in his curtain-raiser article in Urdu press (covered here in a previous post, ‘Jafri reveals the truth’). The book offers much – much – more: a fantastic trip of time travelling to the early days of Pakistan, and inside the secret vaults of classified information, all in a light and refreshing manner.
I strongly recommend it to everybody. Being a basic document about a key symbol of our sovereignty, i.e. our national anthem, it should be kept in every household (Imagine losing your domicile certificate, passport, identity card and personal documents?). The book is modestly priced at Rs.200, which is roughly the same as a full plate of Biryani plus cold drink (and minus the TIP) – so, please do not “starve” your souls.
Now, very interestingly, while explaining that his purpose is just to keep the record straight, Jafri clarifies in the preface that it would not have been unexpected if the Quaid had actually got the national anthem written by a Hindu poet, but facts are facts and history needs to be respected. In the same vein he admits: “I do not have any doubts about Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah being secular, liberal and enlightened… Since Islam is the very name of tolerance.”
The links which I posted in previous comments were difficult to access so I am posting the new links to read this feature in a better way.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=27582&id=132 7996863#!/photo.php?pid=5377981&id=665520495
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=27582&id=132 7996863#!/photo.php?pid=5378005&id=665520495&fbid= 421202780495