ISLAMABAD(National Times)- The government has declared Nov 9 (Monday) a public holiday to commemorate the birth anniversary of Dr Allama Muhammad Iqbal, according to a press release by the Cabinet Division issued on Thursday.

“Monday, Nov 9, shall be a public holiday throughout the country on the occasion of Allama Iqbal Day,” the press release said, referring to a circular issued in January by the Cabinet Division listing public and optional holidays for the year.

Meanwhile, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has also declared a closure on Monday in light of the holiday.

The Sindh government also announced on Wednesday that all public and private schools across the province would remain closed on Nov 9 to mark the 149th birth anniversary of Iqbal, the national poet of Pakistan.

Born in Sialkot in 1877, Iqbal was a distinguished poet, a scholar, a gifted philosopher and Pakistan’s ideological founder.

It was at the Allahabad session of the Muslim League in 1930 that Iqbal became the first politician to articulate the two-nation theory that ultimately led to the creation of Pakistan on August 14, 1947.

Iqbal Day was on the calendar of national public holidays for decades, but the interior ministry, through a circular issued on November 4, 2015, announced the cancellation of the day as an annual holiday without specifying a reason. However, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s government restored the holiday in 2022.