“No poet since Wali Dakkani has been able to capture greater

audience than Habib Jalib. He is truly the poet of the masses.”

[Faiz Ahmed Faiz (1911-

1984) ]

Early life

Habib Jalib was born as Habib Ahmad on 24 March 1928. In a

village Miani Afghanan in district Hoshiarpur, India. It is

located on bank of river Bias.His father was writter of a book

named as "gul hay-a-aqidat". He got his early education from

Hoshiarpur.He spent his early childhood in a great poverty, even

he went with his grandmother home to home to sell socks knitted

by grandmother herself to earn for the family. The money they

made was spent on buying foodstuff. He then went to Dehli for

further education. But could not studied more than 9th grade

because of partition. He migrated to Pakistan after the partition

of India and worked as a proofreader for Daily Imroze of

Karachi.To fulfil the family requirments he worked as labour in

Karachi. He also to recite poetry on Radio Pakistan .Then he had

his matric from Jacob Lines School, Karachi. He started his

political activities by compaigning for Haider Bakhash Jatoii, in

Haiderabad. Jatoi was contesting againgst Ayub Khoro. Once Ayub

Khoro asked Habib Jalib that,'' Tum student yahan kia leney atey

ho? Jalib replied ,''Hum aap ki bunyadey ukharney atey hai.''

Khoro went off; but in the house where they stayed was set on

fire the same night and jatoi's car was also burned. Jalib went

to Lahore through Bahwalpur and Multan. He then decided to

contineue his studies and got admission in Oriental college

Lahore.

Poetry

When Jalib was a student of 7th grade, during examination a word

in urdu (waqt a sahar) was given to use it in sentense. he

coudn't used it in a sentense but he made a verse of it , it was

probably his very first poetry .

his teacher Yaqeen shah was totally amazed with the student and

was very glad to have such a good and young poet in the class. he

said,"jalib you are a good poet."

Then he went to Dehli, with his elder brother who had a job at

viceroy's office and his brother

was a good poet too. He was writing for a litrary paper named

"aaj kal" by the well known poet Josh Maleehabadi. With his

brother Jalib used to go to "mushairas''. At Dehli he got chance

to listen to very famous poets like Maulana Zafar Ali Khan, Jigar

Muradabadi, Muztar Ludhyanvi, Sail Dahlivi and Bekhud Dehlivi .

During his stay in Dehli he was attached with Muztar Ludhyanvi

who taught him about poetry. After partition Muztar Ludhyanvi was

professor at F.C. College Lahore. Due to partition all the famous

poets have been shifted to Karachi and Jalib become part of the

litrary group. His time started spending with writers, writing

and reciciting poetry. He became a progressive writer and soon

started to grab the audience with his enthusiastic recitation of

poetry. He wrote in plain language, adopted a simple style and

addressed common people and issues. But the conviction behind his

words, the music of his voice and his emotional energy coupled

with the sensitivity of the socio-political context is what

stirred the audience.

It was turning point of jalib's poetry when Pakistan moved away

from democracy with the imposition of Martial Law by General Ayub

Khan, the first military dictator of Pakistan. He was one of the

handful people who opposed military rule, they denied the “law of

necessity”,(nazarya-a-zarorat) and challenged the dictatorial

policies through his poetry and some sort of political

activities. In recognition of his socio-political services he was

rewarded with imprisonment by the Ayub Khan’s militry rule. He

continued to receive this treat throughout his life at the hands

of various governments, both military and civil. He struggled for

democracy through out his life. He was not a “darbari” poet and

seemed like an “opposition leader” to all governments, from 1960

to his death 1993.

He wrote many book, his first book ''BURG-A-AWARA'' was published

in 1956. Many of his writing were banned by militry and civil

rule in diffrent eras.

He also wrote many fomus song for films, which were sung by Mehdi

Hassan, Noor Jahan and other legendry singers.

Habib Jalib expressed his anguish and wrote this poem during

General Ayub Khan's rule in 1965, when Neelo the very famous

actress and dancer at that time, was called in for a live dance

performance in front of the Shah of Iran who paid an official

visit to Pakistan, but she refused to comply with the

conditions.She was harassed and threatened, she faced direct

consequences for refusing to obey orders.

This was the poem by Jalib.

Later this poem was used in film Zarqa with slight changes in the

words.

Books

1. Burg-e-Awara

2. Sir-e-Maqtal

3. Zikr Behte Khoon Ka

4. Gumbad-e-Bedar

5. Is Shehar-e-Kharabi Main

6. Goshay Main Qafas K

7. Harf-e-Haqq

8. Harf-e-Sar-e-Daar

9. Ehad-e-Sitam

10. Kulyaat-e-Habib Jalib

-Mohabbat golioN se bo rahe ho,-

-Watan ka chehra khooN se dho rahe ho-

-GumaN tum ko ke rasta kat raha hai,-

-YaqieeN mujh ko ke manzil kho rahe ho.-

[ Habib Jalib ].

The popularity of Habib Jalib suddenly increased up in a great

amount after his poem “Dastoor” (the Constitution) which he wrote

in response to the imposition of a new constitution by General

Ayub Khan, in June 1962. The constitution was a turning point in

our history which derailed Pakistan from parliamentary democracy

towards a dictatorial and autocratic “presidential rule” of Field

Marshal Ayub Khan.

Habib Jalib defied the constitution in the following words:

dastoor

In 1964, Jalib actively supported Ms. Fatima Jinnah in her

presidential campaign against Ayub and wrote another famous poem

on Ms. Jinnah.

When Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto came to power, it was assumed that Jalib

would enjoy some peace because of similarities between his

sociopolitical views (anti-capitalism) and the PPP manifesto.

This was however not to be. As Bhutto grew more powerful in the

wake of the weakened military after the surrender of Dhaka, the

gap between the PPP manifesto and the government policies grew

wider. Jalib turned his voice against the Bhutto government and

was jailed as before.

When Bhutto was hanged by another military dictator, General Zia-

ul-Haq, Jalib wrote a poem against the “justice” of the military

ruler, thereby initiating another thread of confrontation against

the new military rule. He actively participated in the movement

for the restoration of democracy and faced hardships from the Zia

regime, and was once again sent to jail.

Habib Jalib was not a spectator, but an active player. His poetry

reflects the pulse of the masses. He was a true “representative”

of the people of Pakistan, especially the oppressed masses. He

wrote on diverse topics, personalities, events, and ills of the

society. He used his poetry as a tool to fight against social

injustice, opression and abuse of power etc.. His poetic works

when viewed collectively, seem like the sociopolitical timeline

of Pakistan.

Despite his meager and irregular income, Jalib never compromised

on principles and values and continued his struggle for freedom,

justice and humanity till his death on March 12, 1993.

Poetry

Jalib’s poetry reflected his vision and approach to life. He

never deviated from his chosen path. His love for humankind, his

sympathy for the underdog and his passion for the fellow-beings

were reflected in his verses. What is quite significant and

somewhat rare in a poet who is also charged with political

ideology is his capacity to suppress his anger against the

injustices and tyrannies that he witnesses in life.

Jalib himself remained a victim of a cruel social order. He was

imprisoned for some time after being wrongly implicated in

various crimes.

With no regular source of income, he had a rootless existence,

but he never considered compromising with his tormentors and

coming to terms with established order. And yet Jalib’s poetry

only reflects his anguish. It is not an expression of his anger

or frustration. At times it is pensive, couched in sarcasm, but

his typical soft melodious tone is always there. He believed that

the Pakistani leaders should stop obeying the Westerners. His

following poem reflects this.