Zeal, Fervour Marks Celebrations of Iqbal Day in Pakistan
Pakistan Times Staff Report

ISLAMABAD: Nation on Tuesday celebrated 127th Birth Anniversary of great poet Philosopher Dr. Allama Muhammad Iqbal with zeal and fervour and renewed the pledge to make Pakistan strong and prosperous.

In Islamabad, a seminar jointly organized by Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) and Pakistan Academy of Letters was held to mark the birth anniversary of great poet.

The Speakers including Chairman Higher Education Commission, Dr. Atta-ur-Rahman, Chairman Pakistan Academy of Letters, Iftikhar Arif, Justice (R) Javed Iqbal, Prof. Muhammad Ali and Dr. Khalid Masood stressed the need to follow the thinking and teachings of Allama Iqbal who rendered unique services for the supreme cause of the people of the sub-continent.

Justice (R) Javed Iqbal said we should seek direction from Allama Iqbal's message and follow it to achieve goals for which the country was created.

Seminar by PML

A seminar was also held by Pakistan Muslim League here where leaders including PML Secretary General Mushahid Hussain, Chairman National Language Authority, Prof. Fateh Muhammad Malik and intellectuals across the country highlighted the vision and perception of great scholar. Chinese Cultural Counsellor Schon was also present on the occasion.

Lahore

In Lahore, Punjab Governor, Lt. Gen. (rtd) Khalid Maqbool visited the mazar of poet philosopher, Allama Dr. Muhammad Iqbal to mark the birth anniversary of great Muslim visionary of South Asia.

Lahore City District Nazim, Mian Amir Mahmood and senior civil officials accompanied him. He laid a wreath on the mazar, offered fateha and prayed for prosperity and solidarity of the country.

Guards Ceremony

An impressive change of guards ceremony was also held at the mazar and a smartly turned out contingent of Pakistan Navy replaced the jawans of Rangers. Commodore North, Raja Riaz Hussain also laid a wreath on the mazar and offered fateha.

A delegation of teachers and students led by Vice Chancellor Punjab University, Lt. Gen. (Rtd) Arshad Mahmood also visited the mazar.

And a delegation of Allama Iqbal Open University also visited the mazar of Iqbal and laid a wreath.

A delegation of Nazaria-i-Pakistan Foundation (NPF) and Markazi Majlis-e-Iqbal also visited the mazar to pay homage to great poet philosopher.

The delegation comprised former Foreign Minister Sartaj Aziz, Punjab Education Minister, Mian Imran Masood, Senator Naeem Hussain Chattha, Editor-in-Chief Nawa-e-Waqt, Majid Nizami, Editor 'The Nation', Arif Nizami, Prof. Dr. Rafiq Ahmad, Justice (Rtd) Sardar Muhammad Dogar and Prof. Abdul Jabbar Shakir.

Sialkot

In Sialkot, the home city of Allama Iqbal, a big procession was taken out from Iqbal Manzil (the birth place of Allama Muhammad Iqbal) to the graves of the mother and father of Allama Iqbal.

The elected representatives, government officials, journalists, and larger number of citizen joined the procession.

Wreaths were also laid on the graves of the parents of Allama Iqbal by social, cultural and literary organizations.

Visit to Iqbal Manzil

To pay homage Allama Iqbal a large number of male and females, students of various local institutions visited Iqbal Manzil.

At Iqbal Manzil (Sialkot) a book exhibition was also arranged where a large number of books written on Allama Iqbal by different authors in various languages as well as some rare books were also displayed.

In connection with Iqbal day, a quiz, declamation contests was held in Multan. Students of Government College of Commerce, Azmat Wasti road participated in
this contest.

National Holiday

The government had announced November-9 as a national holiday. Various news papers, including Pakistan's first independent daily E-Newspaper, 'Pakistan Times' brought out special supplements in connection with this day and state-run television and radio telecast and broadcast special programmes and bulletins.

Chinese writer and students pay tributes

A prominent Chinese writer and intellectual Prof. Zhang Shixuan and the students of Urdu Department Peking University at a function held in Beijing paid glowing tributes to Dr. Allama Mohammad Iqbal and said the Chinese people revered him for his revolutionary thoughts.

The function was organized by Pakistan Embassy College Beijing to commemorate the Iqbal Day. It was also addressed by Ambassador Riaz Mohammad Khan, Principal Sabra Butt, Prof. Ghalib Raza Gillani and the college's students Mamoon Mujahid, Amna Khan and Maryam Fatima Zaidi.

While eulogizing Iqbal's work, they hoped that the new generation will follow him in letter and spirit, by adopting a constructive approach in their life, acquiring knowledge, as well as excellence in science and technology.●