The sixth death anniversary of eminent poet, lyricist, columnist, creator of several popular national songs including “Jeevay Jeevay Pakistan” and scholar Nawabzada Mirza Jamiluddin Ahmed Khan commonly known as Jamiluddin Aali is being observed today (Nov 23).
He was born in 1925 in a literary family of Delhi. His father Sir Ameer-ud-Din Ahmed Khan was also a poet while his mother Syeda Jamila Begum belonged to the family of renowned Urdu sufi poet Khawaja Mir Dard. The poet lovingly called “Aali Ji” by many of his compatriots was a banker by profession and owing to his literary pursuits also remained associated with Anjuman Tarraqi e Urdu Pakistan for 50 long years, since 1962 to 2012.
His contribution towards promotion of Urdu and establishment of Urdu University in the country, a dream and mission of Baba e Urdu (Maulana Abdul Haq), is also duly acknowledged by many. One of the longest poems in the urdu literature, “Insaan,” comprising 4000 verses also goes to Aali’s credit and this is besides several poems and ghazals contributed by him to the Urdu poetry.
To mark the occasion office bearers and members of Anjuman Tarraqi e Urdu, along with prominent literary figures plan to visit his grave to offer fateha. He was conferred the Pride of Performance award in 1991 and the Hilal-e-Imtiaz in 2004.
