THIS refers to the article ‘At Frankfurt Pakistan goes missing again’ (B&A, Nov 28), which mentioned that Iqbal stayed at Heidelberg for six months to learn German. The information is incorrect, as Iqbal stayed there for around three months, and took his doctorate degree from the University of Munich in Bavaria.

Iqbal loved his German teacher, Emma Wegenast, very much, and wrote to her 22 letters. Emma subsequently gave those letters to the government of Pakistan. The then finance secretary, Mumtaz Hasan, returned the letters to the German authorities. I have myself seen these letters addressed to Ms Wegenast, and some of them were read during a meeting of the German-Pakistan Forum in Bonn where ambassador of Pakistan at the time, Lt-Gen Asad Durrani, was also present.

Actually, Pakistani students of Heidelberg University in 1963-64 discovered the residence/hostel where Allama Iqbal had stayed and written his famous verse on the River Neckar. Ms Wegenast, who was from Heilbron down the river Neckar, died in 1963 or 1964, and was buried in a graveyard in Heidelberg.

Again, owing to the efforts of Pakistani students, a street across the river was named ‘Iqbal Ufer’. I once drove to meet the famous poetess Ada Jafarey and her husband, Mr N.H. Jafarey, and had a memorable visit to Iqbal’s residence/hostel.

Dr Syed Laik Ali
Bad Vilbel
Germany

Published in Dawn, December 26th, 2021