Allama Iqbal greatly supported Mohammed Ali Jinnah - AG

Sarath Malalasekera

“It is indeed an honour to reminisce about the life and times of a sage, philosopher and national poet of Pakistan Sir Allama Iqbal,” said Attorney General President’s Counsel Mohan Pieris at the Sri Lanka-Pakistan Friendship Association’s 60th anniversary held in Colombo recently.

The Attorney General said it is timely to commemorate him and disseminate his legacy at a time when Sri Lanka is just returning to normalcy after a conflict that ravaged this nation for years.

He said: “It is the national consensus that the time has come for reconciliation and reconstruction of our lives. The silver lining we see around us is the harbinger of great times ahead for our peoples. Nowhere at a point in history is the motivational stimulus of an inspirational poet like Iqbal felt more than today, when we need such greats as him to inspire and propel us to greater heights.”

“Iqbal rode like a colossus and provided the much needed support and morale to another great man Mohammed Ali Jinnah who is today regarded as the founder of Pakistan, the AG said.

“When I pause to survey the lives of great men of Pakistan such as Iqbal and Jinnah, I reflect on a truism which I believe is axiomatic. When nature fashions a genius, it does so, so sparingly that we are left to wonder when we will see such a genius walk tall among us ever again.

“It is such a thought that lives of such men as Iqbal and Jinnah evoke in us,’ the Attorney General said.

“He emphasized that as we commemorate Sir Allama Iqbal, we hark back to his beginning, achievements and his lasting legacy to us. His is a compelling life story of courage, grit and determination that resulted in the greater good of humanity.

“Iqbal, a Kashmiri by descent, whose ancestors settled in Sialkot in Punjab was born on November 9th 1877.

“Life affords on is way the opportunity and benefit of the company of guardian angels and mentors who influence and shape our life and it fell to young Iqbal’s lot that he had the fortune of meeting a tutor by the name of Dr. Thomas Arnold who quickly recognized the talents of his pupil. So strong was the attachment of the student to his teacher that when Arnold returned to England having completed his stint as a teacher of philosophy at Government College, Lahore, his pupil felt so lonely and put pen to paper to describe his affection for his teacher.

“His remarkable ability to weave his feelings into a poem is reflected in the lines he wrote on the painful departure of his mentor and I quote those emotion filled words:-

“My frantic hands will unwind the knots of my fate, - I’ll break the bonds of Punjab and run to your straight.”

“Though Allama is widely regarded as an ideological father of the State in Pakistan, his immortal song is widely used in India as a patriotic song speaking of communal harmony.

“Mahatma Gandhi is said to have sung it over a hundred times when he was imprisoned in Pune in the 1930’s. Sitar maestro Ravi Shankar set it to music in the 1950’s.

“That is the kind of universality Iqbal enjoys in the sub-continent, the Attorney General said and added Iqbal ranks among the immortals of history and remains the visionary of today and tomorrow.