Back to the roots: Govt fails to stir sentiments on Iqbal Day

Sole event held at Research Library Peshawar to observe the occasion.


Baseer Qalandar November 10, 2014

PESHAWAR: Events across the country celebrated the 137th birth anniversary of Pakistan’s national poet, Dr Allama Muhammad Iqbal, but it seems the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government forgot about the occasion as there was no official ceremony to honour the Poet of the East.

Apart from a lone seminar on Iqbal Day in Peshawar, presided over by former Intelligence Bureau director and expert on Fata and Afghan affairs, Jan Muhammad, there were no other tributes to the man who first dreamt of creating Pakistan.



Most government institutes and schools remained closed on Sunday. As a result, there were few opportunities to celebrate Iqbal Day. Officials, too, made no effort to organise a specific event.

When The Express Tribune attempted to contact K-P ministers including Inayatullah Khan, Shahram Khan Tarakai, Mushtaq Ahmed Ghani and Muzaffar Syed for comments on Iqbal Day, none of them responded till the filing of this report.

“Iqbal was deeply impressed by the great Muslim nation of Afghanistan, its rich culture, splendid history and successful struggle against colonial powers and foreign aggression,” said scholar and former K-P Assembly deputy speaker Ikramullah Shahid while addressing the only seminar held in the city to observe Iqbal Day. It was organised by the Research Library Peshawar (RLP) and held on its premises.

“Iqbal regarded Afghanistan as the heart of Asia and clearly stated in his Persian poetry that disturbance in the country would keep Asia in perpetual turmoil.” On the other hand, peace in the neighbouring country would spell stability for the entire continent, he said.

Founder of the library, Fasihuddin, said, “We have to discover the impact of Iqbal’s thoughts on Afghan culture and society. He added Iqbal was moved by the works, movements and messages of great Afghan and Pukhtun leaders and scholars such as Mehmood Ghaznavi, Hakeem Sanai, Sher Shah Suri, Ahmad Shah Abdali, Khushal Khan Khattak and Syed Jamaluddin Afghani.

Jan Muhammad said the Afghan youth must study the philosophy of Iqbal to rediscover and realise its own importance as well as the geo-strategic and economic significance of Afghanistan in the region. “They have enormous responsibilities in this context,” he said.

The seminar was followed by question and answer session and attended by researchers, students and media representatives.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 11th, 2014.

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