Pakistan

'No NRO for Allama Iqbal', Pakistani Twitter desecrates statue of national poet

Netizens lash out at Punjab govt over quality of artwork to honour late intellectual

Social Desk February 02, 2021

A statue of late national poet Allama Iqbal at Lahore's Gulshan-e-Iqbal Park snowballed into a Twitter storm as netizens took out their pitch forks after the image of the "shoddy" artwork went viral.

Iqbal, who is known as one of the brightest minds to ever have produced, was supposedly 'honoured' by the Punjab Horticulture Authority (PHA) with the statue.

The artwork, however, backfired with users of the micro-blogging heavily criticising the statue with #AllamaIqbal becoming the top trend in the country.

Certain quarters deemed it to be a "monstrosity" while others took it as a chance to improve their meme game.

Journalist Murtaza Shah poked fun at Prime Minister Imran Khan, saying:"No NRO for Allama Iqbal".

No NRO for #AllamaIqbal pic.twitter.com/AlCljK0LFn
— Murtaza Ali Shah (@MurtazaViews) February 2, 2021

Tehreem, another user, said,"When you order Allama Iqbal's statue from daraz".

When you order Allama Iqbal's statue from daraz#AllamaIqbal pic.twitter.com/csT46rBVPg
— Tahreem🌸 (@tweetsbytahreem) February 2, 2021

Television anchor Hamid Mir also lashed out at the government, asking whether the job to make the statue was given based on nepotism.

جناب ولید اقبال صاحب کیا آپ جانتے ہیں یہ کس کا مجسمہ ہے؟ کیا یہ کہیں سے بھی شاعر مشرق کا مجسمہ نظر آتا ہے؟ آپکی حکومت کے خیال میں یہ شاعر مشرق ہیں اور کسی سفارشی سےمجسمہ بنواکر عوام الناس کے لئے اسے گلشن اقبال لاہور میں سجا دیا گیا مجھے تو یہ مجسمہ دیکھ کر بہت افسوس ہوا ہے pic.twitter.com/girwXllzZt
— Hamid Mir (@HamidMirPAK) February 2, 2021

While activist and politician Jibran Nasir was more damning in his indictment saying,"Don't have to think hard what corruption and incompetence looks like".