KARACHI: Eminent painter Jimmy Engineer was given the 13th Habib Jalib Peace Award at the Arts Council.
Engineer thanked the award committee for bestowing the honour on him. He said late Jalib was the people’s poet. All his life he struggled for the rights of the masses. People too loved him. This he saw firsthand when once Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan took him (Engineer) to meet Jalib where he saw how people wholeheartedly shower their love on the poet.
Engineer said wherever in the world he goes, he introduces himself as a servant of Pakistan, adding that Pakistan is a tremendous country with great potential. All it needs is good leadership.
Justice Rashid A. Razvi was the chief guest on the occasion. He said the award committee had chosen a deserving candidate for the honour. About Jalib, he said that his struggle was not just for a single segment of society, but it was for all the oppressed classes. His poetry delineated a particular time period in the history of Pakistan. And he wanted every institution to work within its limits.
‘Pakistan, a country with great potential, needs good leadership’
Poet and journalist Mahmood Shaam presided over the event. He congratulated Saeed Pervaiz (younger brother of Jalib who also conducted the programme) for consistently organising the award function. He then reminisced the time when Ayub Khan ruled Pakistan and the 1962 constitution was put in place. He (Shaam) and his friends used to sit in one corner of Lahore and listen to Jalib recite his famous poem ‘Dastoor’. He counted himself lucky to have heard the poetry from the poet himself.
Artiste Sheema Kermani began her stint on stage by singing one of Jalib’s poems which she introduced as Tarana for women. It was ‘Ay aurat ay dard ki moorat/Ay aadhi aabaadi jaag’.
Tauqeer Chughtai and Jawaid Saba paid tribute to Jalib in verse.
Sheikh Majeed, Nasir Mansoor and Habib Junaidi also spoke.
