Pakistan will observe a public holiday on Monday, November 9, to mark Iqbal Day, the Cabinet Division announced on Thursday, as the country prepares to mark the 149th birth anniversary of national poet Allama Muhammad Iqbal.
The notification states that Monday, November 9, shall be a public holiday throughout the country on the occasion of Allama Iqbal Day. It follows a circular issued by the Cabinet Division in January listing the year’s public and optional holidays.
Punjab has issued its own notification declaring November 9 a provincial public holiday. Sindh announced on Wednesday that all public and private schools in the province will remain closed on the day. The State Bank of Pakistan has also declared a closure for Monday, meaning banks will stay shut.
Iqbal was born in Sialkot on November 9, 1877. A poet, scholar and philosopher, he is regarded as Pakistan’s ideological founder. At the Muslim League’s Allahabad session in 1930, he became the first politician to set out the two-nation theory that led to Pakistan’s creation on August 14, 1947. He died on April 21, 1938, nearly nine years before independence. Lahore’s international airport carries his name.
Iqbal Day remained on the national holiday calendar for decades until the interior ministry withdrew it through a circular on November 4, 2015, without giving a reason. The government of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif restored the holiday in 2022.
Normal business will resume on Tuesday, November 10.
