LAHORE: For six years, Mr Ikramul Haque stood resolutely – all alone -- at the Liberty roundabout with a poster held high. “Hamain Jinnah ka Pakistan chahiye (We want Jinnah’s Pakistan)”, the poster stated. That is how the people of Lahore remember him.

Mr Haque passed away on Friday at the age of 90. His funeral prayers will take place on Sunday (today) at 5pm at 112/5 F Model Town.

Mr Haque had been part of the Pakistan Movement as a student from 1944 to 1948 and was a member of the Muslim Students Federation of Dayal Singh College.

He strongly believed in and advocated Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah’s vision of Pakistan that was not a theocratic state, rather it was about the Muslims, who were a minority in India, and their basic rights. He started standing at the Liberty roundabout daily in 2013 after growing terrorism and extremism in the country.

Mr Haque started his career as a junior clerk at the Caltex Oil Company in Karachi. He retired as managing director of National Fertiliser Marketing Limited.

He has left behind a wife and three sons.

Published in Dawn, August 25th, 2019