Pakistan Institute of Library Education (PILE) organised ceremonies to mark the 114th birthday of Naqash-e-Pakistan Chaudhry Rehmat Ali at PILE House Samanabad, Unique Punjab Academy of Punjab, Gulshan-e-Pakistan Society and at various other places. The ceremony at PILE House was presided over by PILE General Secretary Dara Qureshi. He said the person who had used his student days at Cambridge to campaign for a separate homeland for the subcontinent’s Muslims ought to be honoured. He reminded all that Ali had proposed the name “Pakistan” through a pamphlet, under the title “Now or Never” in 1933, on the eve of Eid, and the idea had turned into reality.
NPS President Gulzar Muhmmad described Ali as an idealist and said he had not received due recognition because he had been uncompromising and inflexible. Renowned educationist Ashfaq Hashmi said Ali had been a devoted leader of the freedom movementm, adding that Ali’s pamphlet “Now or Never” which was a milestone in Pakistan’s national history, needed to be commemorated.
