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!
50 Minutes
http://www.awaz.tv/playvideo.asp?pageId=8491
Found the link:
http://www.milligazette.com/Archives/2004/16-31Aug 04-Print-Edition/163108200406.htm
@Fawad:
Azad has claimed about Jinnah’s personal request in an interview of his sometime ago .. I’ve read it myself a few years back.. but couldn’t get the link on google yet.. its probably the same interview that is referred to in the Daily Times article the earlier blog post here has referenced..
And the issue with Hafiz Jalandhari vs Jagannath is not of poetry, or personal taste.. its about the whole mindset of eliminating Jinnah from Pakistan’s fundamental values.. which started right from the circumstances in which he was left to die ..
the change of the anthem .. the objectives resolution.. these are all just the visible symptoms of what was underlying.. this is not about Hafiz Jalandhari.. and in the context of this discussion I don’t think anybody attacks the poet !
GEO’s 50 Minutes will discuss this issue tonight. Watch and comment here.
Adil / Beena, as someone who fundamentally believes in separation of religion and state I viscerally like the idea that a Hindu may have been asked by the secular founder of the nation to write the country’s anthem. Also, I like Jagan Nath Azad’s heartfelt poem, particularly as it was written at a time of such communal madness.
However, I want to inject a note of skepticism. In his writings Jagan Nath Azad mentioned penning this poem and its broadcast from Radio Pakistan but himself never seems to have claimed that Jinnah asked him to write it as a national anthem. He was based in Lahore at the time and Jinnah arrived and was in Karachi on August 14th/15th. How and when they would have communicated on this topic is not clear. It would be good to find some documentary or other evidence for that claim before perpetuating something as fact just because we want to believe it.
Secondly, liking particular poetry and music is up to individual taste and I find this entire debate of Hafeez Jallundhari’s anthem as Persian and/or synthetic and Azad’s poem as natural rather silly. The problem is that the Pakistani educated class simply doesn’t know good Urdu and nothing in the national anthem or Azad’s poetry is difficult for those who know the language. For those who don’t they are both difficult so just because Hafeez Jallundhari is seen as right wing and not likable he seems to now get attacked for reasons good and bad. Azad should be rightly praised and given credit for a work from the heart but denigrating the current anthem should not be a natural corollary. I personally happen to like the current national anthem but its almost beside the point.
Full disclosure: my father who is a retired professor was friendly with Hafeez Jallundhari and even I have met him as a child. I don’t think that jaundices my opinion but it may.