ISLAMABAD: The federal government on Tuesday announced November 9 as a public holiday, in connection with the birth anniversary of the country’s national poet and philosopher Allama Muhammad Iqbal.
A notification issued by the Prime Minister’s Office dated 08.11.2022 said, “The Prime Minister has been pleased to desire that 9th November (Iqbal Day) shall henceforth be observed as a public holiday”.
Following this, the Cabinet Division in a notification issued said, “In continuation of the Cabinet Division’s circular No. 10-01/2021-Min-II dated 17th December 2021, it is for general information that the Prime Minister is pleased to restore the public holiday on occasion of the birthday of Allama Iqbal, i.e. 9th November. Therefore, Wednesday 9th November 2022 shall be observed as public holiday throughout the country”.
The Pakistani nation would mark the 145th birth anniversary of great philosopher and poet, Dr Allama Muhammad Iqbal on November 9 (Wednesday).
The world-famed poet of the east was born on November 9, 1877, in a middle-class family in Kashmiri Mohallah, an ancient densely-populated locality of Sialkot city.
The day would be marked with special prayers in mosques for the solidarity, integrity and prosperity of Pakistan and the freedom of all the Muslim homelands including occupied Jammu & Kashmir and Palestine.
Various cultural, political and social organizations held meetings and seminars in various parts of the liberated territory to highlight the services rendered by the great visionary leader of the 20th century.
It may be mentioned that Dr Allama Iqbal showed the path of success to Muslims especially the youth through his poetry, philosophy and verses which were based on the collective betterment and prosperity of Muslims.
People from various parts of the country would visit ‘Mazaar-e-Iqbal’ in Lahore to lay a wreath to pay homage to Poet of the East. Fateha and prayer would also be offered for the prosperity and solidarity of the country.
A prestigious change of guards ceremony would also be held at the mausoleum of Dr Allama Muhammad Iqbal in Lahore.
Special programmes would also be arranged by different literary, political, social, educational and cultural organizations to pay homage to Dr Allama Iqbal for his unmatched literary contributions and his role in the character-building of the entire Muslim Ummah.
Seminars, conferences, debate and poetry competitions and discussion programmes were arranged to highlight different aspects of poetry, thoughts and messages of Dr Allama Iqbal.
Allama Iqbal is officially recognized as the national poet of Pakistan and known as Muffakir-e-Pakistan, Shair-e-Mashriq and Hakeem-ul-Ummat. His best literary work includes Asrar-e-Khudi, Payam- i-Mashriq, Bang-i-Dara, Bal-i-Jibril, Zarb-i-Kalim and Armughan-e-Hijaz.
Social media, Twitter, Facebook and Whatsapp were the most prominent social media sites where this great scholar remained the centre of discussion and eulogized for his contributions, besides electronic and print media.
