Close X
Monday, January 13, 2025
ADVT 
International

Revolutionary Pak Poet's Daughter Drives A Taxi To Make Ends Meet

IANS, 19 Oct, 2018 01:53 PM
    Pakistan's revolutionary poet Habib Jalib's daughter drives a private taxi in Lahore for the livelihood of the family after her mother's stipend was stopped in 2014 by the government of Pakistan state Punjab.
     
     
    Tahira Habib Jalib, a resident of Mustafa Town in Lahore, is serving as captain of a private taxi service in the city to earn their livelihood, Geo TV reported.
     
     
    On Wednesday, the Lahore Electric Supply Company sent an electricity bill amounting to Rs. 75,000 to Tahira, who lives with her sisters and their children, the channel said.
     
     
    "I am the sole bread-winner of the family and I drive a car to earn money," Ms Jalib was quoted as saying by the channel.
     
     
    "The car that I am driving is brought on loan," she added.
     
     
    Ms Jalib said that she does not feel any shame in driving a taxi as she is the daughter of Habib Jalib, who never compromised on principles till his death.
     
     
    She said the monthly stipend of her mother was Rs. 25,000, which was stopped in 2014 by the then government led by chief minister Shehbaz Sharif. The government of Punjab used to pay the stipend from the quota of the poets.
     
     
    "The stipend was stopped days before my mother's death in 2014," she said.
     
     
    Ms Jalib urged the government to resume the stipend and introduce poor-friendly system so that the poor earn their livelihood without difficulty.
     
     
    "These leaders use my father's verses in their speeches but they do not take notice of the troubles faced by his children," she said, referring to political leaders who use her father's poetry in their political messages.
     
     
    Habib Jalib, born on March 24, 1928, in Hoshiarpur village in undivided India, migrated to Pakistan after partition and worked as a proof-reader for an Urdu daily.
     
     
    A progressive writer, he became the voice against then military dictators-- General Ayub Khan and General Zia-ul Haq.
     
     
    Described as the people's poet, Habib Jalib was jailed multiple times by General Zia for writing poems against his rule. He was once arrested and beaten up by police for reciting poetry against the Zia regime at a protest march by women activists towards Lahore High Court.
     
     
    When Jalib died in 1993, his family had refused to accept the government's offer of bearing funeral expenses.

    MORE International ARTICLES

    Watch: Moment When Indian Naval Commander Abhilash Tomy Was Rescued By French Vessel

    Watch: Moment When Indian Naval Commander Abhilash Tomy Was Rescued By French Vessel
    Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the commander is “conscious and doing okay” after his ordeal.

    Watch: Moment When Indian Naval Commander Abhilash Tomy Was Rescued By French Vessel

    Not All Are Terrorists: Pak On India Objecting To Burhan Wani Stamps

    Not All Are Terrorists: Pak On India Objecting To Burhan Wani Stamps
    Pakistan Foreign Minister Mehmood Qureshi said India used incidents that happened in July to cancel peace talks that it agreed to in September.

    Not All Are Terrorists: Pak On India Objecting To Burhan Wani Stamps

    Egyptian Man Gets Arrested In Saudi Arabia For Having Breakfast With A Woman

    Egyptian Man Gets Arrested In Saudi Arabia For Having Breakfast With A Woman
    An Egyptian man working as a hotel receptionist in Saudi Arabia was recently arrested after posting a short video of himself having breakfast with a fully-veiled female co-worker on social media.

    Egyptian Man Gets Arrested In Saudi Arabia For Having Breakfast With A Woman

    German Triathlete Banned From Japanese Buffet Restaurant After Gobbling Up 100 Plates Of Sushi

    German Triathlete Banned From Japanese Buffet Restaurant After Gobbling Up 100 Plates Of Sushi
    Jaroslav Bobrowski, a young Ironman triathlete from Germany, was recently banned by an-all-you-can-eat sushi restaurant for eating around 100 plates of food, something the owner considered "not normal" and very bad for business.

    German Triathlete Banned From Japanese Buffet Restaurant After Gobbling Up 100 Plates Of Sushi

    PICS: Indian-American Escapes Unhurt As Small Plane Crash-Lands On His Car In Texas

    PICS: Indian-American Escapes Unhurt As Small Plane Crash-Lands On His Car In Texas
    The small aircraft faced some mechanical glitches and as a result, collided with several vehicles as it tried to make an emergency landing in Texas. One such car was a Tesla and the man thanked God and his vehicle after they managed to exit without a scratch.

    PICS: Indian-American Escapes Unhurt As Small Plane Crash-Lands On His Car In Texas

    New Jersey Governor Calls For Sheriff To Resign Over Racist Remarks On Sikh AG Gurbir Grewal

    New Jersey Governor Calls For Sheriff To Resign Over Racist Remarks On Sikh AG Gurbir Grewal
    Authorities in New Jersey have called for the resignation of a senior law enforcement official after a secret recording surfaced in which he allegedly made racist remarks about America’s first Sikh-American Attorney General Gurbir Grewal over his turban.

    New Jersey Governor Calls For Sheriff To Resign Over Racist Remarks On Sikh AG Gurbir Grewal