SIALKOT, Aug 13: “Pakistan Ka Matlab Kia, La Illaha Il-Allah” continues to be the most popular slogan depicting the vision for the country, but today very few people know the man behind the national expression.

A resident of Sialkot, Prof Asghar Saudai feels himself a neglected national hero as, he says, he has fallen a victim to the government apathy. “Not for once have I been considered for the Pride of Performance Award despite my contribution to the Pakistan Movement,” he deplores.

Speaking exclusively to Dawn, the octogenarian Prof Asghar Saudai said he wrote a poem titled “Pakistan Ka Matlab Kia?” during his college days to deter anti-Islam and anti-Pakistan propaganda promoted by his Hindu and Sikh class-fellows and teachers. The poem later became popular among the Muslims and the voice of Pakistan.

It was this very poem that paved the way for the Pakistan Movement by reflecting sentiments of every Muslim, he said.

He said the soil of Sialkot became unforgettable by giving birth to Allama Iqbal who envisaged the idea of Pakistan. He stressed that there was an urgent need to promote Iqbal’s vision, but the successive governments had done nothing practical in this regard.

Feeling depressed to see Iqbal Manzil, the birth place of the poet-philosopher, in a state of disrepair, Prof Saudai urged the government to honour the commitment of establishing an advanced research centre at the place after renovating it.

Prof Saudai, who is known among his colleagues and educationists as a roaming encyclopaedia of the Pakistan Movement, also wanted the corridors of power establish the direly-needed Aiwan-i-Iqbal in Sialkot and start issuing the PhD classes on ‘Iqbaliyat’ for the local, national and foreign research scholars at the over a century-old Government Murray College.