Abdul Majeed Abid
Yeh fasal umeedon ki hamdam,
Iss baar bhi ghaarat jaye gi,
Sab mehnat subhon shaamon ki,
Ab kay bhi akaarat jaye gi
(This crop of aspirations
will be ruined once again,
the toil of day and night
will be wasted another time.)
(Faiz, Montgomery Jail, 1955)
The year 2007 was eventful in Pakistan’s recent history. Political upheaval coupled with a rise in terrorism and a lawyers’ movement for the restoration of the judiciary gripped the country for most of the year. Musharraf, the military dictator, had forcibly removed the Chief Justice of Pakistan — sparking a movement led by lawyers across the country. Amidst all this kerfuffle arose a new band called ‘Laal’ with their song ‘Umeed e Seher’ (Hope for a new Dawn). The song became a sort of anthem for the lawyers’ movement alongside slogans against military dictatorship. The song was based on a poem written by Pakistan’s foremost progressive poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz and the band consisted of young academics who openly declared themselves Marxists. One of the band members was the General Secretary of a Communist Party in Pakistan. A communist party in Pakistan? That seems like an oxymoron, does it not?