Experts of Iqbaliyat, on an event jointly organised by the Aiwan-e-Iqbal and Markaziya Majlis-e-Iqbal, on Wednesday, said that Allama Iqbal spent his whole life urging the people to work for the unity of ‘Ummah’ and to adopt the philosophy of ‘Khudi’.
Journalist and anchor-person Mujeeb ur Rehman Shami condemned the decision of this government of not announcing the public holiday on the eve of the birth anniversary of our national poet. He further added that it is highly regrettable that our media channels gave a continuous coverage to the presidential elections of the United States, while the ceremony of change of guards at Iqbal’s mausoleum was neglected by all of them.
“Iqbal was a great personality with hundreds of aspects, as a soldier and a laborer equally talk about him,” an expert of Iqbaliyat from Balochistan Dr Rauf Siddiqui said. The grand-son of the poet, Muneeb Iqbal said that the personality of Iqbal is beyond the public holiday and that he rules in the hearts of millions of people. He said that it is deplorable that the letters and poetry of Iqbal have been discarded from our curriculum.
Chairman Aiwan-e-Iqbal and editor of Pakistan Today, Arif Nizami also criticized the government’s decision of cancelling the public holiday on Iqbal day. He said that the government has nothing to do with Iqbal, as it is extremely busy in resolving its own issues.
The event was also attended by Mian Afzal Hayat (President Markaziya Majlis e Iqbal), and columnists Irshad Ahmad Arif, Yasir Peerzada, and Dr. Saleem Mazhar.
