ISLAMABAD: The 99th birth anniversary of renowned poet, lyricist, columnist, creator of several popular national songs including “Jeevay Jeevay Pakistan” Nawabzada Mirza Jamiluddin Ahmed Khan commonly known as Jamiluddin Aali was observed here on Saturday.
Born in Delhi, India on 20 January 1925, Jamiluddin Aali, called “Aali Ji” by many of his compatriots, had earned a BA in Economics degree from Anglo Arabic College, Delhi in 1944. He along with his family migrated to Karachi on August 13, 1947, soon after the partition of the subcontinent and started his career as an assistant in the Ministry of Commerce. Later, in 1951, he passed the Civil Service of Pakistan (CSS) examination and joined the Pakistan Taxation Service. In 1971, he also earned an FEL and LLB (law) degree from the University of Karachi. He also served as an Officer on Special Duty at President House from 1959 to 1963 and joined the National Bank of Pakistan in 1967 where he served as its vice president till his retirement in 1988.
A banker by profession, Aali remained associated with Anjuman Tarraqi-e-Urdu Pakistan for 50 long years, from 1962 to 2012 due to his literary pursuits.
His contribution towards the promotion of Urdu and the 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 Urdu literature, “Insaan,” comprising 4000 verses also goes to Aali’s credit and this is besides several, Nazms and Ghazals contributed by him to the Urdu poetry.
Jamiluddin Aali died of a heart attack on November 23, 2015 at the age of 90and was laid to rest in Karachi.
