In memoriam: ‘Jalib dares us to resist tyranny’

LAHORE:

“Today Jamat-i-Islami quotes from Faiz’s work and Nawaz Sharif reads Jalib,” said Hussain Naqi, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) joint director of HRCP, at an event celebrating Habib Jalib’s 22nd death anniversary.

In his address, he recalled the time when he had met Jalib in Karachi as a student of Islamia University and how together they had started an anti-government student movement.

The atmosphere was festive, with those present in the audience occasionally shouting slogans of “Jalib lives.”

The same thought was echoed by Yousaf Baloch, a trade union leader, who said Jalib had been a people’s poet and would live on in the hearts of the oppressed masses.

HRCP General Secretary IA Rehman said that he had been closely associated with Jalib from the time he was introduced to the poet.

He said he had heard about Jalib when he lost his job in Karachi and came to Lahore in search for work.

“We could not find Jalib a job but he was busy finding jobs for other people,” he said.

He said it was Jalib who called him and asked him to find a job for Hussain Naqi, who at the time had been working with the Pakistan Press International (PPI). “Jalib was not afraid of poverty but was scared of slavery,” he said.

Ahsan Wyne, president of the Awami National Worker’s Party, spoke on Jalib’s political activism, saying he did not want a democracy dominated by conservatives.

Naheed Khan, a former MPA, said Pakistan’s true identity had been forgotten in view of divisions along sects, casts and ethnicities.

Safdar Abbasi, senator from the Pakistan People’s Party, said Jalib had not been afraid of those in power.

He said he opposed dictatorships and had also called out Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto when he disagreed with their policies and politics.

He said that there was still space in Pakistan for progressive politics provided there was a united struggle for the movement.

Jawad Ahmed, singer and leader of the International Youth and Founders Movement, said there was very little space for socialist parties and this could only be changed by creating ideological awareness amongst workers and youth.

He said no progressive movement would be complete without the participation of trade unions and the youth from all social classes.

The event was organised by Jalib’s daughter Tahira Habib Jalib, who also sang some of his poems.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 14^th, 2015.