A ceremony was held at the Arts Council of Pakistan on Wednesday to bestow the Habib Jalib Peace Award 2020 to the late Asma Jahangir for her magnanimous contributions to the cause of human rights in the country.
According to a statement issued by the council, veteran journalist Mahmood Shaam presided over the event, which was hosted by Jalib’s brother and journalist Saeed Pervaiz. Remembering Jalib’s struggle for the downtrodden segments of society, Shaam said that as injustice had pervaded life, every human settlement was looking for another Jalib to come and raise voice for it.
He added that Jalib was the poet of the poor and penurious who went to jail for them and true democracy. Shaam also lauded Pervaiz for holding annual events in memory of Jalib for the last 27 years.
Lawyer Rasheed A Razvi said they were commemorating two towering personalities at the event — Jalib and Asma. He said the two were freedom fighters who throughout their lives struggled for others. He said it was great to see the award named after Jalib being bestowed to someone like Asma.
The award was received by rights activist Anis Haroon who said it was a matter of immense happiness for her to receive an accolade for Asma. She said both Jalib and Asma had become the symbols of human rights. Poet Dr Fatima Hasan remarked that it was necessary to keep remembering Jalib in order to show the right path to the youth.
Rights activist Karamat Ali was of the view that when it came to resistance, the character of Jalib was exemplary and no one could be compared to him. Literary personality Aqeel Abbas Jafri also read his piece on Jalib at the event.