PRC calls for an Iqbal research university

JEDDAH: The Pakistan Repatriation Council (PRC) organized a function to mark the 135th birth anniversary of Allama Mohammad Iqbal with a call for the establishment of a research university in memory of the philosopher poet.
Chief guest, Francis Lamand, president of Islam and the West, said he had studied the life of Allama Iqbal from his university days 50 years ago, and "I am proud to say I am his servant." Europe is thankful to Iqbal for elaborating the message of philosopher Fredrick Nietzsche and poet William Goethe, he said, adding that Iqbal was a bridge between the West and the East, between the West and Islam since no one else presented that concept better than him. "So we consider him not just the poet of the East but a universal poet and philosopher."
He said he had the honor of organizing a symposium on Allama Iqbal in Cordoba with the pope's special permission, which was attended by world's renowned dignitaries and admirers of Iqbal, and then he was given the title of "Allama Lamand."
Tahir Hameed Tanoli, assistant director of Iqbal Academy, Lahore, Pakistan, who was the guest of honor, said: "We have two undisputed personalities — Quaid-e-Azam who gave us Pakistan and Allama Iqbal without whose message we can't realize the objective of Pakistan."
Other guests and speakers included Irfan Hashmi, chairman Majlise Iqbal of Urdu Markaz; Riaz Ghumman, chairman of Pak-Saudi Friendship Society; Athar Naqvi, poet and scholar; Azeez Ahmed, general secretary, Pakistan Engineers Society; Iftikhar Choudhry, chairman, Halqa-e-Yaran Watan; Syed Mahmood Akhter; convener, Engineers Welfare Forum; and community leaders Shaikh Mohammad Luqman, Rohail A. Khan, Tariq Mahmoud, Rasheed Chishti, Pak Saraiki Forum.
The meeting adopted resolutions calling for the establishment of an Iqbal Research University and plebiscite in Kashmir according to the UN resolution.