ISLAMABAD, Nov 09 (APP):Nation marked the 144th birth anniversary of great poet and philosopher, Dr Allama Muhammad Iqbal on Tuesday with national zeal and fervor.
People from different walks of life paid glowing tributes to Dr Allama Iqbal for his unmatched contributions in terms of awakening and uniting Muslims to stand for the cause of acquiring a separate homeland, through his thought provoking messages and poetry.
Special prayers were offered in mosques countrywide for development and prosperity of the country from early in the morning. Special programmes were 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 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. Pakistan National Council of the Arts (PNCA) in collaboration with PTV arranged Iqbal Day program titled “Sitaroon se aagey” to pay tributes to Dr Allama Iqbal in the fields of poetry and literature.
The program highlighted different aspects of Dr Allama Iqbal’s personality and his contributions. The programme would also be presented on PNCA official Facebook page.Bahria University arranged a conference themed ‘Iqbal’s multidimensional wisdom: His vision for the social, scientific and technological revival of the Ummah’ on Tuesday to mark the birth anniversary of the great poet and philosopher.
President Arif Alvi was the chief guest of the conference while a number of scholars, academics, researchers, faculty and students were present on the occasion. Nazaria-i-Pakistan Trust also planned to arrange a week-long activities comprising over a series of competitions among the students to mark Iqbal Day.
The Trust also arranged Iqbal Day function with participation of a number of poets, scholars and academicians on Tuesday. A prestigious change of guards ceremony was held at the mausoleum of Dr Allama Muhammad Iqbal in Lahore. A smartly turned out contingent of the Pakistan Navy assumed ceremonial guard duties with traditional spirit and enthusiasm.
Pakistan Navy Lahore Station Commander, Commodore Amir Iqbal Khan who was chief guest on the occasion laid a wreath at the grave of Dr Iqbal, and prayed for progress and prosperity of the country on the occasion. He also penned down his impressions in the Visitors’ book.
Born in Sialkot on November 9, 1877, Dr Allama Iqbal had foreseen that only solution of problems being faced by the Muslims in the subcontinent was a separate homeland. Allama Iqbal is officially recognized as 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 center of discussion and eulogized for his contributions, besides electronic and print media.
The main cake cutting ceremony on the 144th birthday of Poet of the East Dr Allama Muhammad Iqbal was held here at Iqbal Manzil under the chairmanship of Deputy Commissioner Sialkot Tahir Farooq. A large number of people also visited Iqbal Manzil to pay homage to Dr Allama Muhammad Iqbal on his birth anniversary. They showed keen interest in the personal used things of Allama Iqbal, rare books and pictures of Allama Iqbal and his family members displayed there.
