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!
From censoring Jinnah speeches, hiding his true accounts and changing the national anthem, the religious zealots started meddling with the affairs of state since its very inception. We need to undo the mistakes of past. Firstly by defining religion strictly as spiritual domain and separating it from politics. Until we remove clergy from power politics we will see the like of Sufi Muhammad and Mullah Omer.
Thanks Adil. I posted the translation soon after uploading the scan of the nazm that Chander K. Azad sent me. It’s at my blog, translated by Shoaib Mir http://beenasarwar.wordpress.com/2010/04/09/jagan- nath-azads-pakistan-tarana/
Very glad that yo were able to find this and thank you for sharing.
I like it, but it is not really a national anthem, since it is much more written for right after independence rather than for all times (which is what anthems are). Between them, I also like the current anthem much better and quite elegant in music as well as words. But as a national song I hope GEO or someone will have it sung.
Qoowat-i-Akhowat-i-Awam
>>Haider says
>> I find this one as complicated as the current official one
Can you explain what you mean by “complicated”? Any examples of what would be considered “not complicated”?
English translation of this is available at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qaum%C4%AB_Tar%C4%81n a
I find this one as complicated as the current official one. I guess that was the style of the poets in those days. With 25-odd lines, it will take a long time to recite.