ISLAMABAD: While Iqbal Day was observed throughout the country during the current week, a survey conducted by a research company showed that nearly half of Pakistanis could not recognise the importance of November 9.

Among those who were able to tell the significance of the day, women were in majority.

The study was conducted in the first week of November by a research company named Ipsos in which 1,021 people from all the four provinces, Islamabad, Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir were interviewed.

While 45pc of the participants were not aware of the significance of Nov 9, which was celebrated as Iqbal Day, 55pc participants knew about it. Out of those who were aware about Nov 9, 56pc were women and only 37pc were men.

Only 35pc of the people who had done matric were aware of the day’s importance. The same percentage of people who had done intermediate knew about Iqbal Day while 57pc graduates had the knowledge. Similarly, 72pc postgraduates were aware of Iqbal Day.

The result of the survey showed that one-third of the Pakistanis had passion for poetry, with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa leading among the provinces. More educated, upper income groups and women indulged in poetry.

Two-third of the poetry enthusiasts considered Allama Dr Mohammad Iqbal as their favourite poet - majority of them being women. Younger Pakistanis’ affection towards Iqbal is significantly low compared to adults. Urdu poetry captures the interest of three in four Pakistanis, followed by Punjabi, which stood at 11pc and Pashto at 7pc.

The survey also showed that nine in 10 Pakistanis correctly recognised Allama Iqbal as a national poet. Only three in 10 Pakistanis had read poetry of Allama Mohammad Iqbal, with postgraduate respondents leading with 58pc. An overwhelming majority (76pc) of Pakistanis advocated for November 9 to be declared a public holiday, with strong support coming from school and college students and individuals from the lower socio-economic class.

Published in Dawn, November 12th, 2023