LAHORE – The 87th death anniversary of national poet of Pakistan, Dr. Allama Muhammad Iqbal, is being observed today, April 21.
A special ceremony in this connection was held at the Pakistan National Council of Arts Islamabad.
Allama Iqbal was a great visionary poet, who conceived the idea of a separate homeland for the Muslims of the Sub-continent, which was later materialized in the form of Pakistan.
Allama Iqbal through his poetry and thoughts awakened the Muslims to seek knowledge and realize their potential for real objectives.
President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, in their messages on death anniversary of Allama Dr. Muhammad Iqbal have urged to follow thoughts of Poet of the East and make collective efforts to build Pakistan as a strong, sovereign and developed country.
The president, in his message urged Pakistanis to follow the teachings of Allama Muhammad Iqbal to make Pakistan a country delivering social and economic justice to all its citizens.
He also paid tribute to political and intellectual contributions of Allama Iqbal.
The President said Allama Iqbal was not only a poet but also a thinker and reformer who felt the anguish of the downfall of the Islamic Ummah and used his thoughts and verses as a medium to awaken the Ummah.
He said Iqbal’s poetry revolves around the concepts of selfhood, reformation, divine love, freedom of thought, and renaissance of the Ummah.
He said the poet philosopher called the Muslims towards knowledge, wisdom, self-confidence, and the message of true religion.
The prime minister, in his message said Iqbal was not only a poet, but was a farsighted leader who presented the concept of a separate country for the Muslims of the sub-continent.
Shehbaz Sharif said Allama Iqbal was the first thinker who, in his address of 1930 in Allahabad, presented a clear concept of a separate state for the Muslims of the sub-continent.
He said this ideology of his later took a practical form under the leadership of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah and translated in the shape of beloved country Pakistan.
