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!
There is nothing in the opinion piece by Safdar Mahmood that contradicts the fact that the first anthem of Pakistan was written by Jagan Nath Azad or that these were its words. That is the only point of importance and the point of this post.
Whether Jinnah actually asked him to write the anthem or whether someone else did is not really that relevant. What is relevant is that he wrote the first anthem and these were its words.
@Nihair, you did a good job of finding this article and posted it here.
I don’t know why Adil Najam posted this information without any concrete proof . If someone wants people to read his/her blogs atleast a person should have moral courage to provide the right information.
Anyway thanks to Dr Safdar Mahmood for doing all the hard work and keeping the record straight.
There should now a be new blog stating the actual story.
The only link to the whole drama is “ATP friend Beena Sarwar who originally uncovered this via Prof. Azad’s son Chander K. Azad.”
Here is a column by Dr. Safdar Mehmood in Jang. After researching, he is rubbishing this claim. As ATP is also mentioned in his column, i am quoting this to keep the record straight.
http://www.jang.com.pk/jang/jun2010-daily/06-06-20 10/col4.htm
The poem by Azad is fine, but it is just another poem. I like the one by Hafeez. It has nice rhythm and beat to it. So what if it is in Persian. Urdu has its roots in Persian as well. And what about our flag. It too was inspired by the Turkish flag. I think the current debate on National Anthem of Pakistan is silly and trivial.
A committee was formed who called all the poets and literate persons of the country to produce national anthem. 723 poems were collected, out of Jalandhari’s Anthem was selected….was really our Quaid was so naive to chose anthem first then replace it…? who else had the guts to change what has been said by M. Ali Jinnah… This anthem came to be runner up but it was never chosen in the first place as national anthem then replaced… thst’s crap…