The Pakistan Repatriation Council (PRC) commemorated the 132nd birth anniversary of the great Pakistani thinker, philosopher and poet Allama Iqbal last week in Jeddah. A number of community members, media persons, poets and others paid rich tributes to Iqbal in the function held to mark Iqbal Day. Saudi Gazette senior editor Sameera Aziz, in her message that was read out to the gathering, expressed appreciation for the PRC and its cause of the stranded Pakistanis. Those who spoke on the occasion included: Dr. Irfan Hashmi, convener of Majlis-e-Iqbal; Rauf Tahir, senior journalist; Mohammad Jameel Rathore, general secretary of the Pakistan Journalists' Forum; Eng. Mohammad Abdur Rafi, Seth Mohammad Luqman, Mohammad Ashfaque Badaouni, Tariq Mahmoud, Asadullah Amer, Eng. Abu Farhan Siddiqui, Eng. Rasheed Chishti, Syed Shahabuddin and convener Ehsanul Haque. Poets Abdul Qayyum Waseq and Syed Mohsin Alavi presented poetic tributes to the great poet. The function was conducted by PRC media secretary Syed Mussarat Khalil, recitation from the Holy Qur'an by Qari Abdul Majeed and naat by Sher Afzal. __
