A noble cause: With a new song, singer Jawad Ahmad shifts focus

Renowned vocalist vows to devote his skills for the betterment of the working class.

KARACHI: The concert may have been put off for a day but pop singer Jawad Ahmad is focused. “I have decided to sing for the working class of the country because I myself belong to this class,” he said as he briefed the media at Hotel Mehran on Friday about his latest song - composed in tribute to the Baldia factory workers, who died in a tragic fire on September 11.

The renowned vocalist will perform his newest tune “Mein Bhi Insaan Hoon” at the Labour Square Ground in SITE on Monday. The concert was originally scheduled to be held on December 30 but was postponed to December 31 over unexplained reasons.

Ahmad has now decided to focus his skills for the betterment of labourers. The lyrics of the song which express the feelings of the working people are his own creation. “The song is more than [just] a song. It’s a call and we will take it as a source of awareness for 85 per cent people of the country - the working class,” he told reporters.



Ahmad, who first gained attention through his song “Allah Meray Dil kay Andar”, spoke at length about the “class difference” in the world and termed it a “real” problem in the Pakistani society also. “All the other differences may disappear at one stage or the other, but the difference between the poor and rich remains.”

The aim of the song is to create awareness regarding the rights of the labour class to save them from such incidents in the future, the singer replied to a question regarding fundraising and compensation for the victims’ families. “There’s no need for new labour laws but to implement the existing ones.”

The video of the song will be shot when Ahmad performs with the factory workers and the victims’ families on Monday. He added concerts will be organised in 10 different cities to inform the working people about their rights.

The factory owners, the government and the society are to be blamed for the poor situation of the working class in the country, said Karamat Ali, the executive director of Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (Piler). The not-for-profit organisation is supporting Jawad Ahmad and had asked him to compose a song for the Baldia fire victims.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 29^th, 2012.