The federal government has confirmed that Monday, November 9, will be observed as a nationwide public holiday in honour of the birth anniversary of national poet and philosopher Dr Allama Muhammad Iqbal.
The Cabinet Division issued a notification on Thursday confirming the holiday, in accordance with the official calendar of public and optional holidays announced earlier this year.
“Monday, Nov 9, shall be a public holiday throughout the country on the occasion of Allama Iqbal Day,” the notification stated.
The Punjab government has also issued a separate notification confirming the provincial holiday.
In Sindh, authorities announced on Wednesday that all government and private schools would remain closed on November 9 to commemorate Iqbal’s 149th birth anniversary.
The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has similarly announced that it will remain closed on Monday, with banking operations suspended in observance of the national holiday.
Born in Sialkot on November 9, 1877, Allama Iqbal remains one of South Asia’s most influential literary and philosophical figures. His poetry and political thought played a significant role in shaping Muslim intellectual and political consciousness in British India.
A scholar, poet and philosopher, Iqbal is widely regarded as the ideological inspiration behind the movement that eventually led to the establishment of Pakistan.
His presidential address at the All-India Muslim League’s Allahabad session in 1930 is considered a defining moment in the political development of the idea of a separate Muslim homeland in northwestern India.
Iqbal’s intellectual contributions, expressed through his poetry in Urdu and Persian, continue to occupy an important place in Pakistan’s cultural and educational life.
Although Iqbal Day was observed as an annual public holiday for several decades, the federal government discontinued the practice in November 2015 through an Interior Ministry circular that provided no explanation for the decision.
The holiday was subsequently reinstated in 2022 under Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s administration.
This year’s observance will mark the 149th anniversary of Iqbal’s birth, with educational institutions and cultural organisations expected to commemorate his literary achievements and philosophical legacy.