Freedom Dawn?
It is 14th August today. My country is fifty nine years old. It is much stronger than it was 
in 1947. It is still beautiful and it is the only country I have. But deep down, something troubles me. Countless questions hit my thoughts like relentless waves. Could Pakistan have been different if we did not flout the will of the country’s founder – The Quaid. Or if we had treated the East Pakistanis better or nurtured leadership that could have held things together???
Ironies of our existence are baffling: there are more muslims in our ‘enemy’ country. Those who led the Pakistan movement and gave it the popular basis live in a separate country and I need a visa if I want to see the green vistas of Bangladesh.
And, today my passport eludes me at every airport. And, questioning eyes and gestures welcome each time I proudly introduce myself as a Pakistani. Why do I have to answer questions on Islamism, bin Ladens and the talibans of the world? What do I have in common with them, anyway? And, why do I have to explain each time that Pakistani women are not locked in their homes and that all Pakistanis are not the flag burning, hate mongering ideologues.. My ancient land of Harappa, Moenjodaro and Mehergarh, my Indus plains, the Sufi subcultures and the tall mountains in the north are permanent. All else is transitional, a product of colonial and post colonial histories. 
Cliched as it is, on the eve of Pakistan’s independence day, amidst the celebrations a part of me that sadly remembers Faiz:
Subh-e-Aazaadi -Freedom’s Dawn
This leprous daybreak, dawn night’s fangs have mangled –
This is not that long-looked-for break of day,
Not that clear dawn in quest of which those comrades
Set out, believing that in heaven’s wide void
Somewhere must be the stars’ last halting-place,
Somewhere the verge of night’s slow-washing tide,
Somewhere an anchorage for the ship of heartache.
When we set out, we friends, taking youth’s secret
Pathways, how many hands plucked at our sleeves!
From beauty’s dwellings
and their panting casements
Soft arms invoked us, flesh cried out to us;
But dearer was the lure of dawn’s bright cheek,
Closer her shimmering robe of fairy rays;
Light-winged that longing, feather-light that toil.
But now, word goes, the birth of day from darkness
Is finished, wandering feet stand at their goal;
Our leaders’ ways are altering, festive looks
Are all the fashion, discontent reproved; –
And yet this physic still on unslaked eye
Or heart fevered by severance works no cure.
Where did that fine breeze, that the wayside lamp
Has not once felt, blow from — where has it fled?
Night’s heaviness is unlessened still, the hour
Of mind and spirit’s ransom has not struck;
Let us go on, our goal is not reached yet. 
Translation: V. G. Kiernan
How could I not re-produce the Urdu version here
Ye daagh daagh ujaalaa, ye shab-gaziida sahar,
Vo intizaar thaa jis-kaa, ye vo sahar to nahiiN
Ye vo sahar to nahiiN jis-kii aarzu lekar
Chale the yaar ke mil-ja`egi kahiiN na kahiN
Falak ke dasht meN taroN kii aakhiri manzil,
KahiN to hogaa shab-e sust mauj kaa sahil,
KahiN to jaake rukegaa safiina-e-gham-e-dil.
JawaaN lahu kii pur-asraar shaahrahoN se
Chale jo yaar to daaman pe kitne hath paRe;
Diyaar-e-husn kii be-sabr khwaabgaahoN se 
Pukaarti-rahiiN baahen, badan bulaate-rahe;
Bahut ‘aziiz thii lekin rukh-e-sahar ki lagan,
Bahut qariin thaa hasiinaN-e-nuur kaa daaman, ,
Subuk subuk thii tamannaa, dabii dabii thii thakan.
Sunaa hai ho bhii chukaa hai firaaq-e-zulmat-o-nuur,
Sunaa hai ho bhii chukaa hai visaal-e-manzil-o-gaam;
Badal-chukaa hai bahut ahl-e-dard kaa dastuur,
Nishaat-e-vasl halaal o ‘azab-e-hijr haraam.
Jigar kii aag, nazar kii umang, dil kii jalan,
kisii pe chaara-e-hijraaN kaa kuchh asar hii nahiiN.
KahaaN se aa’ii nigaar-e-sabaa, kidhar ko ga’ii?
Abhii charaagh-e-sar-e-rah ko kuchh khabar hii nahiiN;
Abhii giraanii-e-shab meN kamii nahiiN aa’ii,
Najaat-e-diidaa-o-dil ki ghaRii nahiiN aa’ii;
Chale-chalo ke vo manjil abhii nahiiN aa’ii
Photo credits here:Pakistan flag, Jinnah, Indus Man, K2 peak, Faiz, Jasmine
What an impeccably beautiful and honest post. How eloquent the words of Faiz..how fitting.
I think this day for me, more than any other, is a day of contemplation. How far forward we have come as a country and how far back (from the real ideals) we have moved as Pakistanis.
I am from Europe and Europe suffered throughout the centuries because all state affairs were based on religion. Less religion, less suffering!
heartfelt and touching – waisay, you would not need to defend yourself/your country if your state was not not aiding and abetting extremism all over the world, and in your name!
anp
In the aftermath of of the terror plot with the involvement of people of Pakistani descent your peice and Faiz’s poem are most befitting. Your blog is contributing a lot towards the health and wellness of the overall psyche of a pakistani muslim living abroad during these uneasy times.
One can contemplate for hours as to what went wrong with the state of affairs in Pakistan that it bred such religious extremists-but to read these sentiments on the web is great. This also shows that many Pakistanis have moderate and secular values and they consider such values imperative for progress and sucess as a nation.
keep up the good work!
Does anyone have the full version urdu and translation of this poem by Hafiz Jullundari
Loot li insaan ki qismat pachattar lakh mein
Bik gayee Kashmir ki jannat pachattar lakh mein
ASLO
Muhammed Iqbal’s
Fields, streams and gardens and peasants too, they sold away,
They sold away a whole people and how cheaply did the sell!
Khadim Hussain
khadam27@ntlworld.com
Middlesbrough
for the of God (be He whoever you want Him/HER to be), please stop being so selfish and ignorant about the state of Pakistan! you think Pakistan is sponsoring state terrorism, but you are only looking at the surface of the issue. you don’t know how porous the pakistani-afghan border really is, porous enough to be impossible to monitor (by an American or Pakistani government), you don’t know what influence America has over creating the Mujhahideen and leaving them to rot with all that ammunition! effectively creating the mujhahideen, providing them with all the weapons, and expecting them to be responsible about their position of power is fairly naive of the Americans. But worse still, bombing the shit out of Afghanistan and Iraq, causing tens of thousands of civilian casualties, has given the Taliban more power.
people please understand the difference between Al-Qaeda and the Taliban. the Taliban are independent groups and Al-Qaeda is a big organization that many Taliban groups may or may not have any direct linkages with. so before you start pointing your ignorant fingers at pakistan, know that with the suffering in today’s world, the growth of independent taliban organizations cannot be stopped by military intervention. you cannot expect to bomb the living soul out of every taliban or every taliban supporter, bec it takes only one person to start an independent taliban organization–which is why the U.S. has not been able to win the war in Iraq and Afghanistan yet.
and nothing, not even the the govt. of pakistan can control the growth of these taliban groups unless the U.S. changes its tactics on the war on terror.
People forget that pakistan is providing most of the intelligence in the war on terror…at the very high price of hatred from the people of pakistan–the results of which you have already seen with the embarrassing resignation of ex-President Musharraf.
So if you think the Pakistani people or the Pakistani govt. or the Pakistani army is better off by state sponsoring terrorism, you are mistaken. Unfortunately it is a lose-lose situation for all those people who want to fight terror, until the sensitive issues like Palestine, and public development issues of poverty, education are resolved.
we need to fight the war on terror by dialogue and diplomatic discussion, because believe it or not no body wants to die by blowing himself up, esp when there is a less life-threatening alternative available…we cannot let our prejudices weigh us down, and most of all we cannot pinpoint fingers at moderate muslims and muslim states that are at a very sensitive point in their democratic/legislative struggle and leave them to clean the shit that bad U.S. foreign policies left behind.
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