Why should the Federal government spread this confusion of first declaring Iqbal Day a national holiday and then withdrawing this notification? In a country where holidays are already in excess and elected PMs and presidents choose to spend almost a week on every Eid, visiting family abroad, there is definitely a need to re-evaluate this mindset. In 2015, if 6 September can be declared as holiday to commemorate Defence Day, and Eidul Azha’s two notified holidays extended to four days, then Iqbal Day should have been observed as holiday. It is unfortunate that family members of Unionists, who never wanted British occupation to end, have embarked on deliberate attempt to distort and reinvent our history to justify role of their ancestors.
Allama Iqbal was amongst most educated politicians of his era in the subcontinent, who stood for social justice, tolerance, freedom from oppression and believed in ijtehad. He wanted Muslims to unite on one platform based on commonality in belief in One God, Holy Quran and finality of Prophet (PBUH), instead of being divided on sectarian and ethnic divides. As late as 1930, creation of separate homeland or self rule by Muslims was not even a declared policy of All India Muslim League, yet in his presidential address at Allahabad Iqbal stated that in his personal opinion destiny of Muslims of North West India lay in the formation of a separate entity composed of Punjab, Sindh, NW Frontier and Balochistan. Creation of an independent nation takes place when people living in a contiguous territory themselves seek it.
All his life Iqbal opposed feudals, most of whom were beneficiaries of Raj dole-outs of lands and titles to buy loyalty for British Empire. This curse and addiction for allotment of state lands continues to haunt us and overnight green agricultural belts around major cities are diminishing. Iqbal was amongst those who opposed unfair trial of Ilm-ud-Din Shaheed in 1929 and Bhagat Singh in 1930. Those for whom acquisition of wealth, instead of freedom and liberty, is priority, Allama certainly would not inspire. He was opposed not just by Unionists of Punjab but all feudal of subcontinent. As President of Punjab Muslim League he stood up and openly supported Quaid-e-Azam till his death in 1938. It is a fact of history that call for separate national identity for Muslims of subcontinent originated from Muslim majority states of Bengal, Sindh and Punjab.
MALIK TARIQ
Lahore
