Like most Pakistani
children I grew up singing the country’s national anthem every morning at the
school assembly. Our rotund music teacher Mrs Lobo would pound the tune out on
the school piano as rows of uniformed boys and girls obediently mouthed the
words, “Pak sar zameen shaad baad…”, Blessed be the sacred land. Some
jokers would strike a discordant note to make their classmates laugh. I doubt
any of us ever thought about the meaning of the heavily Persianised words.We all knew