Beena Sarwar writes that , (see the previous post) The reference she gave was about the 11th August speech by Jinnah meant to be his political will I think , but she hasn`t mentioned the page number .
The writer`s reply :
Thanks to Aqeel Abbas Jafri for posting Khurram Shafique's comment to my blog
Journeys to democracy | Blog by Pakistani journalist & documentary filmmaker Beena Sarwar
Just for the record, Jagannath Azad never claimed that he was 'dramatically called to the Radio Station', or that he met Mr Jinnah personally. All that he said was that he was conveyed a message, apparently from Mr Jinnah, to pen this tarana within a few days, which he did, and that it was played on Radio Pakistan on Aug 14, 1947, and for several months after that.
He mentioned this incident in his book
'Ankhian TarastiaN HaiN' 1981) - Jagannath Azad referred to this incident, about how he came to write this tarana, in several other interviews and on his many visits to Pakistan. No one took it up or contradicted it then.
Zaheda Hina quotes the incident in her obituary of Azad mentioning the tarana in
Express, August, 2004, uploaded on this blog in Sept 2009 - see
Zaheda Hina on Jagannath Azad | Journeys to democracy She tells me that Mr Aqeel Abbas Jafri called her a couple of days ago, expressing his ignorance about her article and asking for a copy - so perhaps his research could be more meticulous.
[An aside for those who may be interested: the Maulana Salahuddin whom Azad refers to, quoted by Zaheda Hina, was the maternal grandfather of Asma and Hina Jillani].
It is indeed unfortunate there is no record of the tarana. However, the fact remains that some people who were around at the time do remember hearing in 1947 on Radio Pakistan - people of integrity like I.A. Rehman (who came to Pakistan in Nov 1947 and says Radio Pakistan played it for quite some time), Dr Mubashir Hasan, and Zaheer Kidvai (see his query on his blog, May 2005 -
Windmills of My Mind: A Tale of Two Anthems In the absence of a record, it's Azad's word and their’s, against anyone else's.
I spoke to Zaheda Hina today. Having known Azad closely, she says, "There are people you know are truthful. Jagannath Azad was not a liar. If he says he wrote this tarana for Pakistan, at the behest of Mr Jinnah, I believe him. If there are people who choose not to believe him because there is no 'evidence', then that is their choice."
The point is that a beautiful poem was written for Pakistan on the eve of Independence, at the behest of Mr Jinnah says the poet who happened to be a Hindu.
Even if that cannot be proved, why discard Azad’s
tarana? There are many other songs that are considered to be national songs (not official anthems) like Sohni Dharti, or Jivey Pakistan. Why not add Azad's poem to that repertoire?
See also:
Balraj Puri's obituary in
Milli Gazette, 16-31 Aug 2004:
Tribute:Jagan Nath Azad – some reminiscences, The Milli Gazette, Vol.5No.16, MG110 (16-31 Aug 04)
Asfaque Naqvi 's reference to Azad's tarana in his article in “A word on Jagannath Azad”,
Dawn, June 27, 2004
DAWN - Features; 27 June, 2004 - DAWN.COM
Azad himself refers to hearing his Tarana-e-Pakistan being broadcast from
Radio Lahore on the night of 14 August 1947 in his book “Ankhen Tarastiyan Hain" published in 1981
[18] and in “Hayat-e-Mehroom” published in 1987
[19]