Most lines of this poem were written the day Hakim Muhammad Saeed was brutally murdered in Karachi. The first magazine I ever bought was the Hamdard’s Naunehal published by Hakim Muhammad Saeed’s organization. I was in class 3 when I purchased it and I think I bought it only because Hamdard’s peelo toothpaste came with it. But slowly and steadily I started to become a huge fan of Hakim Sahib for reasons other than the fact that the toothpaste was free and that it tasted good too.
I added a few more lines to the poem when Omar Asghar Khan reportedly committed suicide (although many, including his own father Retired Air Marshal Asghar Khan believe he was murdered).
Today is a sad day for a seasoned journalist Syed Saleem Shahzad and Bureau Chief of Asia Times Online has been found dead. His ‘crime’, it seems, was his piece published on 27th May ´.
And I have no further words to add to this poem; not because I am hopeless but because I am speechless.
“Ik aur rehbar aaj qaum ka apni, qatl huwa bay-jurm-o-khata
Paband-e-qafas magar na hoga kabhi, qatil os maseeha ka
Dastoor hay nada.n qoam ka apni, jo kaam karay kuch islah ka
Haq baat say gar wo baaz na aae, kaat kay phaink do sar os ka
Ham ab bhi magar mayoos nahi, ik deya sa aankh may jalta hay
Kay aisay hi andheray may hamesha, umeed ka suraj nikalta hay”
English Translation:
My friend and a talented journalist Moign Khawaja has been kind enough to translated the poem into English.
Never shall the gallows hang, the murderer of our messiah
It is the message of our imbecile nation, to whoever does the job of reform
If you don’t cease telling the truth, we’ll chop-off and throw your headBut we have not given up yet, a light kindles in our eyes
That always in such darkness, the sun of hope rises
Filed under: My Poems, Poems, Politik, Random Ramblings, Hakim Said, Omar Asghar Khan, Poem, Syed Saleem Shahzad, Urdu
