Allama Iqbal, the poet-philosopher and the man who lead the political awakening in Punjab and other Muslim majority areas, never associated with the people who sold their conscience to the British colonial masters.
He was not a saint but a man who never associated with political opportunists. In 1938 when Sikandar Hayat sent three emissaries namely Nawab Mamdot, Mian Amiruddin and Nawab Muzaffar to convince him for a compromise on the Masjed Shaheed Ganj issue, he refused to meet them because of the shameful role played by one of these men in desecration of mosque for the sake of power.
As we remember this great man, we need to keep in mind that those who are invited to commemorate his memory must be men of honour, not those for whom money is all that matters in life. Allama Iqbal struggled all his life against the Unionists of Punjab, who believed that the Sun would never set on the British Empire. He was a man who always associated himself with the aspirations of the common man. Allama lives in the hearts and minds of those who value freedom, politics of ethics and undivided love for motherland.
We should spare our pioneers of freedom from being exploited for self-projection. No sovereign country in the world would allow its history to be distorted as we have allowed it to be done by the few, who by accident of birth acquired wealth, power and media control.
GULL ZAMAN
Peshawar