AGC_HOME

CULTURE

RELIGION

NATIONAL ANTHEM

MISC.

SHORT STORIES

URDU POETS

SITE UPDATES

NATIONAL ANTHEM OF PAKISTAN

When Pakistan was created in 1947, the country did not have any national anthem.  Then, in late 1949, it was announced that the late Shah of Iran was to pay a state visit to Pakistan (the first by any foreign head of state).  It was then that Ahmed Ghulamali Chagla was approached by the National Anthem Committee of  the Government of Pakistan to compose the tune for the National Anthem - which he did, and it was played for the first time at the Governor-General's House in Karachi during the Shah's visit on March 1, 1950!  My late parents and I were present on the occasion.  He did not accept any monetary award for this service to the nation.  The words of the National Anthem were subsequently composed by Hafiz Jallundhuri.  Unfortunately he did not live to see his tune to be officially adopted as the National Anthem of Pakistan in 1954 (until then the Government of Pakistan had to seek his permission and, subsequent to his death, the permission of his heirs) to play the National Anthem on any occasion (including the first official visit to U.S.A. by late Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan).  Finally, in 1996, the Government of Pakistan recognized his service and posthumously bestowed upon him the President's Pride of Performance award.  I had gone to Washington D.C. to personally receive this award, on his behalf, from the Ambassador of Pakistan at the Pakistan Day celebration held on March 23, 1997.

Listen to the National Anthem of Pakistan

A sheet from the musical score, signed by the Composer:

SOME PICTURES OF THE OLD FOOT HARMONIUM OF MR. A. G. CHAGLA WHICH IS NOW ON DISPLAY AT THE INSTITUTE OF SINDHOLOGY IN HYDERABAD:

THE PRIDE OF PERFORMANCE MEDAL:

A. K. CHAGLA RECEIVING AWARD FROM MR. RIAZ KHOKAR, WHO WAS THEN THE AMBASSADOR OF PAKISTAN IN WASHINGTON D.C. :

A. K. CHAGLA WITH MEDAL AND AWARD RECEIVED BY HIM ON BEHALF OF HIS LATE FATHER, AHMED  GHULAMALI CHAGLA: