[Reader-list] Jinnah's Secularism: A Hindu wrote Pak's first national anthem

[Sanjay Kak]

Something to add into the current excitement around Jinnah sahib
Best
Sanjay Kak

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Kashmir Times 21 Aug 2009 / features / http://www.kashmirtimes.com/

Jinnah's Secularism
A Hindu wrote Pak's first national anthem

*How Pakistan's Qaid-e-Azam got Urdu-knowing Jagannath Azad to write the song.
Chander K. Azad

"Aey sarzameen-i-pak Zarrey terey hein aaj sitaron sey tabnak Roshan
heh kehkashan sey kahin aaj teri khak."("Oh land of Pakistan, each
particle of yours is being illuminated by stars. Even your dust has
been brightened like a rainbow."')
These are lines from Pakistan's first national anthemÿwritten by
Jagannath Azad, a Lahore-based Hindu, acceding to the wishes of
Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the country's founder and first Governor-General.
As the debate about Jinnah's secular August 1947 vision of his country
rages on, this little known fact will be of public interest. Days
before his death in 2004, Azad recalled the circumstances under which
he was asked by Jinnah to write Pakistan's national anthem: "In August
1947, when mayhem had struck the whole Indian subcontinent, I was in
Lahore working in a literary newspaper. All my relatives had left for
India and for me to think of leaving Lahore was painful. I decided to
take a chance and stay on for some time. My Muslim friends requested
me to stay on and took responsibility of my safety. On the morning of
August 9, 1947, there was a message from Pakistan's first
Governor-General, Mohammad Ali Jinnah. It was through a friend working
in Radio Lahore who called me to his office. He told me `Qaid-e-Azam
wants you to write a national anthem for Pakistan.' I told them it
would be difficult to pen it in five days and my friend pleaded that
as the request has come from the tallest leader of Pakistan, I should
consider his request. On much persistence, I agreed."
Why him? "The answer to this question," Azad said , "has to be
understood by recalling the inaugural speech of Jinnah Sahib as
Governor General of Pakistan. He said: `You will find that in the
course of time, Hindus will cease to be Hindus and Muslims will cease
to be Muslims, not in the religious sense because that is the personal
faith of each individual, but in the political sense as citizens of
the state.'
It is for historians and analysts to judge what made Jinnah Sahib make
this speech. But clearly as understood by the speech was the fact he
wanted to create a secular Pakistan, despite the fact the whole
continent, particularly the Punjab province, had seen a human tragedy
in the form of communal massacres. Said Azad, "Even I was surprised
when my colleagues in Radio Pakistan, Lahore approached me. I asked
them why Jinnah Sahib wanted me to write the anthem. They confided in
me that `Qaid-e-Azam wanted the anthem to be written by an
Urdu-knowing Hindu.' Azad goes on to say, "Through this, I believe
Jinnah Sahib wanted to sow the roots of secularism in a Pakistan where
intolerance had no place."
The national anthem written by Jagannath Azad was sent to Jinnah, who
approved it in a few hours. It was sung for the first time on Pakistan
Radio, Karachi (which was then the capital of Pakistan).
The song written by Jagannath Azad served as Pakistan's national
anthem for a year and a half. After Jinnah's death, a song written by
the Urdu poet Hafiz Jallundhari was chosen as the national anthem.
Email: chanderkazad at gmail.com