The rebel and his causes
Habib Jalib is widely known today as a revolutionary poet. His early poetry however was apolitical and revolved around more conventional themes like love, separation, betrayal and a longing to forget. The deep social and political consciousness that characterises his more popular poetry came after his arrival in Lahore in late ‘50s, particularly in the wake of Gen Ayub Khan’s military coup. But a word about his earlier poetry which is by no means insignificant.
After migrating in 1947 from Hoshiarpur in Indian Punjab Jalib spent over a decade in Karachi doing odd jobs including working in a newspaper. In Karachi this was a period of Mushairas where poets, including some from India, recited their poems, particularly ghazals. In Lahore Mushairas were less popular. I remember one in the hall of the Punjab University at old campus in mid ‘50s where people hooted out Jigar Moradabadi. Jigar was a well known poet and many thought Jalib was under his influence.
A sense of loss was the recurring theme in Jalib’s early poetry. In his case it was a dual loss, one caused by the separation from a loved one which is all too common in classical Urdu and Persian poetry. Equally poignant however was the sense of loss of the land of birth and separation from old friends. One finds the imagery peculiar to East Punjab with clouds, valleys, hills and greenery in Jalib’s early poetry. The imagery is too common in the poetry written by two other migrant poets i.e., Munir Niazi and Nasir Kazmi, the former with roots in Hoshiarpur, the latter coming from neighbouring Ambala.
Jalib had personal experience of poverty and the deprivation that it entails. This was partly mitigated in the pre-partition social milieu where extended family played a role in sustaining those left behind in the race for survival. In the urban life of Karachi where those around him were new acquaintances, there was little to rely upon. The past therefore continued to haunt Jalib.
It was from this personal experience of poverty and the later understanding about the system that gives it birth that the future rebel was to be born
When Jalib settled for good in Lahore he frequented Halqa-e Arbab-e Zauq for a number of years. He was still apolitical and wrote evocative ghazals.
He felt uneasy in the sittings of the Halqa where the stress was on experimenting in new literary forms and unconventional themes. Novelty was the key word. Miraji still haunted many. Qayyum Nazar, Mubarak Ahmad, Jilani Kamran all traversed hitherto unexplored themes in new literary forms. Shahzad Ahmad, Ahmad Mushtaq and Anjum Rumani wrote ghazals which had a new tone and tenor. Iftikhar Jalib and Anis Nagi, the two angry young men, started their career experimenting in new themes and forms.
Outside the Halqa, there were two watering holes for the intellectuals, Pak Tea House and Coffee House. The writers who gathered there came from various sections of the middle class comprising lawyers, college teachers, middle level bank officials, journalists and even civil servants. The critics were ruthless in their assessments of a writers’ literary performance. The outspoken, often cynical and self-opinionated white collared literati were altogether unlike Habib Jalib. Life among these people was like “Dushmanon kay Darmian Sham” which is the title of one of Munir Niazi’s poems.
Quite a few of Habib Jalib’s poems during his early stay in Lahore are an exposure of the literary scene, particularly the critics. The one on Coffee House and the other on Halqa-e Arbab-e Zauq are particularly bitter.
Jalib was in search of mooring. He found this as challenges to Ayub’s dictatorship emerged. As the initial challenges turned into a movement for democracy, Jalib found a new audience outside literary circles. And the people in the streets found their voice.
Countrywide challenges to the dictatorship emerged in early ‘60s from the student community. 1n 1960 Ayub Khan introduced a new education policy envisaging a three year degree course along with a lot of regimentation. Among other things which became highly unpopular was an increase in fees and restrictions on taking part in politics or having even contacts with politicians. College and university administrations were given additional powers to maintain discipline. Expulsions became common with the result that campuses from one end of the country to the other were on fire. The protests continued sporadically for two years
Piggybacking on the new education policy came the notorious University Ordinance aimed at disciplining the rebellious student community. The black law authorised the Vice Chancellors to withdraw degrees awarded to students found involved in ‘objectionable activities.’ The movement against the Ordinance was equally widespread. While the struggle against the three year degree course was confined to college students alone the one against the Ordinance mobilised senior students. In Lahore The Mall became the battle ground between students from Punjab University, Law College and King Edward Medical College. Clashes with police finally spread all over the city and continued day after day and week after week.
There was a lot of tear gas smell on The Mall from where it was often wafted into the Pak Tea House and Coffee House. While some of the writers were unaffected, others came out to watch the fighting. Some were to join it in later days.
In 1965 came the presidential elections with Fatima Jinnah challenging Ayub Khan. Madr-e-Millat, as she was called, had a particular appeal for the anti-Ayub youth. The streets all over the county turned into battlefields. This helped Jalib find a new type of audience which was responsive, loving, almost adoring the poet. Jalib turned into a formidable performer when it came to reciting his poems.
The transition was in fact already visible in some of the poems he had earlier read in the Halqa with half the ghazal dealing with conventional themes and the other half an expression of the poet’s rebelliousness. Before the initial anti-Ayub agitations, Jalib was a rebel without a cause. The movement provided him a genuine cause, the struggle against the dictator, the struggle for democracy. It was rewarding for him to be enthusiastically cheered by hundreds who stood by his cause.
From this time to his death Jalib stood by the people and fought for democracy and the common man’s rights under every ruler, military or civilian. Under every autocratic ruler he wrote poems that continue to serve as landmarks.
“Bachon Peh Chali Goli” is based on an actual incident of police firing on a pro-Fatima Jinnah student procession during the election campaign. The poem is by and large a period piece. What followed however was genuine high grade resistance poetry which included “Main Naheen Manta” and “Musheer””. After this first poem, Jalib had to go to one prison after another. Jalib’s poetry earned him the ire of the government machinery.
The 1965 war put the brakes on the democratic movement for a brief period. Some believed it was a patriotic war with Ayub Khan as hero. Lahore TV centre, the first to be set up in the country, had started transmissions only months before the war. People were glued to the TV or the radio most of the time, particularly during the curfew hours. This generated a sort of war hysteria. During the war one day I saw Safdar Meer standing in a tonga with folded canopy reciting a poem on loud speaker in his characteristic thunderous voice in praise of Ayub Khan. “Ghazi Sadr Ayub ki aankh mein khoon utar aaia hay” was the refrain of the poem.
For a short while Jalib was also affected by the widespread sentiment. The poems he wrote during the period were subsequently self-censored. One was titled “Zindabad aay Cheen-o-Indonesia” The other had “Ganjang India” as refrain. This was in fact the slogan raised by President Suharto in a display of solidarity with Pakistan. In Indonesian language it means “Destroy India”.
The war hysteria was short lived. The 17-day conflict took a toll on the country’s economy. Investments stopped and the wheels of industry slowed down. The unemployment rate climaxed. So did the prices of consumer goods of daily use. With the price of sugar increasing, Ayub Khan turned from a Ghazi into a ‘Cheeni Chor’. As the Ayub era had seen the meteoric rise of a number of families of industrialists they too aroused public anger. They were commonly known as the “twenty two families” and were held responsible for shortages, rising prices and unemployment.
Jalib’s poem “Bees Gharanay hain Abad” was warmly received in the country. Stanza after stanza the poem deftly connects poverty, dictatorship, American domination and Pakistan’s membership of the unpopular defence pacts SEAO and CENTO. Two other poems by Jalib that became popular during the period were “Pakistan Ka Matlib kya” addressed to the religious and “Main Nay Us Say Yeh Kaha” which is an exposure of the dictatorship.
NAP, led by Bhashani, was in the forefront of the anti-Ayub struggle. Jalib became a supporter of the party. But when Bhashani lost steam, Jalib supported the faction of NAP led by Wali Khan.
His strongly reacted to Gen Yahya Khan’s policies.
“Tum say pehlay Who Jo Ik shakhs yahan takht nasheen tha
Usko bhi apnay khuda honay peh itna hi yaqin tha”
Jalib was one of the handful of intellectuals in Pakistan who strongly reacted to Yahya Khan’s operation in East Pakistan. “Mohabbat Golion Se Bo Rae ho,” was the immediate reaction of the poet.
During the anti-Ayub movement, Jalib was impressed by Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto’s challenge to the dictator. When Bhutto left the country for a while after resigning from Ayub’s cabinet Jalib wrote two poems which he later did not include in his printed works. These were really forceful and he recited them for the first time outside Pak Tea House to a crowd that had gathered there. One began with these lines:
Jang ko tez kar Zulfiqari-e-Ali, raat hai mukhtasir ab dhali, ab dhali
Sham ko rang day, subha to noor day
Qaum hai muntazir apna dastoor day.
Muntazir hay teri des jki har gali
Jang ko tez kar Zulfiar-e- Ali
Jalib however overcame the short lived infatuation to continue his struggle in NAP’s company. Jalib rebuffed the offer brought by his old friend Mian Mahmud Ali Kasuri to join the PPP. His poem “Larkane chalo, ya thanay chalo” was a protest against the use of police against a singer who refused to accept Bhutto’s call for a performance.
Finally, Jalib was arrested along with Wali Khan and 51 others in the so called Hyderabad Cospiracy Case. His bold defiance of Zia in two poems made them popular. These were “Zulmat ko Zia, Sarsar jko saba, Banday ko Khuda kia likhna” and “Na guftgoo say na woh shairee say jaiga, Asa uthao keh firaun usi say jaiga”
It was during the Zia period that he protested on The Mall in Lahore against the Hudood Ordinance alongside women. Jalib appreciated Benazir’s struggle against a military ruler. “Bandooqon walay dartay hain aik nihatti larki say”. When she came to power he advised her not to follow the US dictates. His poem in Punjabi “Amreeka na ja kuray” belongs to the period.
Jalib stood by the downtrodden, challenged the dictators and turned down offers from civilian governments that could have made life comfortable for him and his family. He finally died penniless at Ganga Ram Hospital. His only solace was that he was loved by the people. Once, in jail, he was told that he would not be provided with pen or paper. He responded, “I will recite my poem to your guard, he will recite it in the town square, and so it will reach Lahore.”
