In the heart of Lahore stands a landscape where memory, nationhood, and everyday life converge - Greater Iqbal Park. Spread across more than 125 acres around the towering Minar-i-Pakistan, the park is far more than a recreational ground; it is one of the most symbolically charged spaces in the history of Pakistan. Within its expansive lawns and tree-lined pathways the rhythms of contemporary urban life mingle with the echoes of a decisive historical moment. Children play on its green stretches, families wander beneath its shade, and visitors pause before the great monument that commemorates the historic demand for a separate Muslim homeland. It was on this very ground that the Lahore Resolution of 1940 was adopted - an event that altered the political destiny of South Asia and ultimately led to the creation of Pakistan. Yet the story of this historic space stretches far beyond that decisive moment, reaching back through the centuries to the Mughal age, passing through the period of Sikh rule, and entering the urban landscape of the British Raj.

The site that is today known as Iqbal Park lies along the historic northern corridor of Lahore, close to the majestic complexes of the Lahore Fort and the Badshahi Mosque. During the Mughal era the banks of the Ravi River in this vicinity formed part of the ceremonial landscape of imperial Lahore. Contemporary chronicles and travellers’ accounts describe vast open grounds beyond the walled city where imperial gatherings, military reviews, and royal festivities were often held. Under emperors such as Akbar, Jahangir, and Shah Jahan, Lahore emerged as one of the great capitals of the Mughal Empire, and the open spaces north of the city functioned as an imperial maidan where royal processions assembled and troops were inspected. The decline of Mughal authority in the 18th century brought a period of political instability, eventually culminating in the rise of the Sikh kingdom under Maharaja Ranjit Singh. During the Sikh rule between 1799 and 1849 the ground near the fort remained an open public space used for gatherings, military exercises, and state ceremonies. Its transformation into a landscaped park, however, would occur only after the British annexation of Punjab in 1849.

Under the British colonial administration, Lahore underwent major urban reorganisation as new roads, civic institutions, and public gardens were laid out across the city. The colonial authorities converted several open grounds into formal parks intended both for public recreation and for projecting the authority and order of the imperial state. According to the Lahore District Gazetteer and municipal records of the period, the open ground near the Badshahi Mosque was developed into a public park and named Minto Park in honour of Gilbert Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 4th Earl of Minto. The naming reflected the colonial practice of commemorating imperial administrators through urban landmarks. By the early 20th century Minto Park had become one of Lahore’s principal public gathering places, frequently used for exhibitions, fairs, political meetings, and civic ceremonies. It was an expansive open ground capable of accommodating large crowds, and it was here - ironically in a park named after a British viceroy - that one of the most significant ‘anti-colonial’ political events in the history of South Asia would take place.

Between March 22 and 24, 1940, the grounds of Minto Park hosted the historic annual session of the All-India Muslim League under the leadership of Muhammad Ali Jinnah. On March 23, 1940, the Muslim League adopted what later came to be known as the Lahore Resolution, calling for the establishment of independent states in the Muslim-majority regions of northwestern and eastern India. The significance of this event has been emphasised by numerous historians. Ayesha Jalal, in her influential study The Sole Spokesman, interprets the resolution as a strategic articulation of Muslim political autonomy within the constitutional negotiations of late colonial India. Shariful Mujahid describes the Lahore session as the turning point at which the Muslim League moved beyond demands for minority safeguards toward the vision of sovereign statehood. The historian Stanley Wolpert famously described the Lahore gathering as the decisive turning point in the political struggle that eventually produced Pakistan. Although the resolution itself did not explicitly mention the name Pakistan, its implications were unmistakable: the Muslim League had formally articulated the demand for independent Muslim homelands. The ground where this declaration occurred soon acquired a sacred status in the national memory of Pakistan.

After the creation of Pakistan in 1947, the symbolic meaning of the park changed dramatically. In the decades that followed the exit of the British, the historic ground was renamed Iqbal Park in honour of Muhammad Iqbal, whose philosophical vision and poetry had helped inspire the idea of Muslim self-determination in South Asia. Iqbal’s presidential address to the Muslim League at Allahabad in 1930 had already imagined a Muslim political entity in the northwestern regions of India. By naming the park after him, the state symbolically connected the intellectual origins of the Pakistan idea with the political

moment at which it was publicly proclaimed. In recent decades, the area has been expanded and redeveloped into the modern complex known as Greater Iqbal Park, transforming the historic ground into one of the largest and most visited public parks in Lahore.

Dominating the park is the monumental Minar-i-Pakistan, erected to commemorate the Lahore Resolution. The structure was designed by the architect Nasreddin Murat-Khan (1904 – October 15, 1970). He was a Russian-born Pakistani architect and civil engineer. Besides the Minar-i-Pakistan, he was also the architect of the Gaddafi Stadium and several other notable buildings and structures in Pakistan. The construction of the Minar began in 1960 and completed in 1968 after nearly eight years of work. Rising to a height of approximately 70 metres, the tower combines reinforced concrete with stone and marble and draws inspiration from Mughal, Islamic, and modern architectural traditions. According to the architect and historian Ghafar Shahzad in his study Lahore key Minar, the monument was conceived as a symbolic synthesis of Pakistan’s cultural and historical heritage. Its base, designed like an unfolding flower, represents the birth of a new nation, while inscriptions engraved upon the structure include Quranic verses, excerpts from the Lahore Resolution, and passages from the speeches of Muhammad Ali Jinnah. Shahzad also notes the symbolic progression in the monument’s material texture, where rough stone at the base gradually gives way to polished marble toward the top, representing the difficult journey from colonial subjugation to national independence. From the viewing gallery near the summit visitors can observe the historic skyline of Lahore, including the Badshahi Mosque and the Lahore Fort - an architectural dialogue between Mughal splendour and the modern identity of Pakistan.

In the 21st century, Greater Iqbal Park has evolved into a space where historical remembrance coexists with modern recreation. Following a major redevelopment completed in 2016, the park now spreads across more than 125 acres and incorporates landscaped gardens, broad walkways, a lake, jogging tracks, children’s play areas, and spaces for public gatherings. The complex also includes the Pakistan Resolution Museum and memorial installations that commemorate the events of March 1940. Millions of visitors pass through its gates every year, experiencing both the serenity of its green spaces and the powerful symbolism embedded in its landscape.

Greater Iqbal Park thus represents far more than an urban park; it is a national landscape of memory where multiple layers of history intersect. From Mughal ceremonial grounds to colonial Minto Park, from the Lahore Resolution to the construction of Minar-i-Pakistan, each stage in its evolution reflects a chapter in the making of Pakistan. As evening descends and the illuminated monument rises against the skyline of Lahore, the park becomes a living metaphor for the nation itself - a place where history, identity, and everyday life converge, and where the dream of a nation once proclaimed continues to inspire new generations.

Published in Dawn, March 23rd, 2026