Saraiki is the 3rd most spoken language in Pakistan. First, I want to correct a misconception that Saraiki is a dialect of Punjabi language.
This is totally wrong. Saraiki is a separate language and has a history of almost 5000 years. In terms of literature, it has a wide range of books, poetry, novels, paragraph writing and many more.
When we are talking about Saraiki language with literature then how do we forget JANBAZ JATOI who was the only poet in Saraiki literature, in 20th century, who got the Presidential Pride of performance award. His original name was Ghulam Rasool Khan. He used Janbaz as his pseudonym and became famous as Janbaz Jatoi because of his caste and birthplace. He was born in 1924 in “Jatoi” a city of Dist. Muzaffer Garh. His mother brings him to his grandmother’s home which is named Uch-Sharif because of many reasons, and he spent his remaining life in Uch-Sharif. He was four-year-old when his mother died. He became an orphan even though his father was alive. He learnt Quran Majeed from Mai Bhag Bhari and Persian language from Maulana Hassam-ud-din Uchvi. He also learnt Gulistan-Bustan from Maulana. He was alone and because to feed and live he did every little job like he sold woods, milk and did labor.
I’m mentioning this because he is the grandson of the person who received the title of “KHAN SAHIB” because of his countless lands. Every moment of his life passed through the path of pain. According to Zafar Lashari, the first novelist of Saraiki language, “Janbaz Jatoi was the first poet of Saraiki, who raised a revolt against the evil, cruelty, and immorality of the society by shooting the arrows of his pen at the social evils. Hate was foul language to them.” When we talk about his poetry, the major part of his poetry covers societal issues faced by poor people because he spends a major part of his life in this sector of society. There are many poems in all his books which enfold the above portion. He was a true patriot and true Muslim which reflects in many poems. He also wrote about love. His book named “Saasi(???)” is full of love stories. His famous books are Ardasa(???????), Tanwara(???????), Hawara(??????), and Saasi(???).
When it comes to the achievements of this Great poet, he was awarded by “Presidential pride of performance award” on 23rd of March 1994 from President Farooq Laghari and he got many awards and rewards from Pak Radio Pakistan. He died on 17th of December 1994 in Uch-Sharif Dist. Bahawalpur.
In the end, I would like to say that he was the only poet who wrote socio-economic poetry after Hazrat Khawaja Ghulam Farid, and he is also known as Fareed-e-Sani.
SAOOD ALI KHAN
BAHAWALPUR