Adil Najam

There are times when it is not enough to feel outraged. One has to speak out. To express the outrage. To speak out, and to be heard, against that which is wrong. Indeed, there are times in life when it is difficult to determine exactly what is right. Reality, after all, is complex and nuanced. However, there are also times – more often than we think – when there is no ambiguity about what is wrong. Just plain wrong. Silence, at such moments – especially in the face of violence – cannot be justified. The least one can do is to call the wrong, wrong.

Bilal Zuberi

A few weeks ago I organized an academic panel discussion on global climate change and the impact on Pakistan. The speakers were leaders in the field of climate change and sustainable development, and provided a crisp account of the short and long term threats that developing countries such as Pakistan faced in the wake of rapidly increasing air and noise pollution as well as long term weather & climate related ecological changes.

However, at the end of the session one gentleman walked up to me and remarked: “humain apnay khaaney peenay kee paree hai, aur tum samajhte ho key hum environment per tawajjah dey sakte hain?” (i.e. we are concerned about our food/livelihood and you think we can pay attention to the environment?). This post reflects on that interaction.

Adil Najam

For much of Pakistan’s history, Habib Jalib was a voice of rebellion. Often an angry voice, but always an honest voice. He wrote in the idiom of the people and the jalsa was as much a platform for his poetry as was the mushaira. He often wrote in the idiom of anger. But that idiom was a function of his subject matter – Pakistan’s beleagured politics.

Jalib was a poet at heart but a political worker at heart. He was not only prepared to say what he believed to be right, but was willing to be beaten up for it (see picture below). He became a national figure with his poem Dastoor which was about Ayub Khan’s tailor-made ‘constitution’ and later with his support for Fatima Jinnah’s campaign against Ayub Khan:

Aisay dastoor ko
Subh-e-baynoor ko
Mein naheen manta
Mein naheen janta

During the Zia-ul-Haq era, his verses again became a popular anthem for those who opposed dictatorship:

Sar sar ko saba, zulmat ko Zia
banday ko khuda, kya likhnaa