LAHORE — A solemn change of guard ceremony was held at the mausoleum of Allama Muhammad Iqbal on Monday, with a contingent of the Pakistan Navy assuming ceremonial guard duties as the country commemorates the 149th birth anniversary of its national poet and ideological founding father.
Pakistan Navy Station Commander Lahore Commodore Misbah-ul-Amin attended the ceremony as chief guest, laid a floral wreath at the mausoleum and offered Fateha in tribute to the poet-philosopher whose vision shaped the demand for a separate Muslim homeland.
Ceremonial Duties Handed Over
The chief guest inspected the contingents of the Pakistan Rangers and the Pakistan Navy participating in the ceremony and recorded his remarks in the visitors’ book. The change of guard at the shrine is a recurring tradition in which the armed forces rotate ceremonial responsibility on significant national occasions.
A Poet Who Awakened a Nation
Allama Iqbal, born on November 9, 1877, in Sialkot, is celebrated for the intellectual foundation he laid for the creation of Pakistan. Through his poetry, he breathed a new spirit of awakening among the Muslims of the Subcontinent, urging them toward self-realization, unity and education.
His presidential address at the Allahabad session of the All-India Muslim League in 1930 is regarded as a historic milestone, articulating for the first time the political vision of a consolidated Muslim state in the northwestern regions of the Subcontinent.
Legacy of a Homeland
Pakistan came into existence through the teachings of Allama Iqbal and the tireless efforts of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, who transformed the poet’s vision into a political reality within a generation.
Iqbal’s anniversary is observed across the country with special events, including seminars, poetry recitations and academic gatherings, honoring his contributions to literature, philosophy and the freedom movement. His mausoleum in Lahore remains a site of national pilgrimage, drawing visitors who come to pay their respects to the man widely regarded as the spiritual architect of Pakistan.
