With Pakistan’s Independence Day around the corner, a road in New York City’s Queens borough was named after national poet Allama Muhammad Iqbal, who envisioned a separate homeland for Muslims of the sub-continent.
“Allama Iqbal Avenue” was inaugurated at a well-attend ceremony in Richmond Hill section of Queens, amid loud slogans of ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ by people waving the national flag.
The event marked the culmination of intensive lobbying efforts over a long period by the Pakistani-American community members, with the leading role played by the American-Pakistani Advocacy Group (APAG).
“It is a proud moment for all of us,” Ali Rashid, who heads the APAG, told cheering Pakistani-Americans, most of whom attended the ceremony in traditional dresses.
“It is an Independence Day gift to the Pakistani-American community here as well as to the people of Pakistan,” said Rashid, who spearheaded the campaign for honouring Allama Iqbal.
Among those who attended the ceremony included New York City government official and Assembly council members, Ms Jenifer Rajkumar and David Weprin. who called Allama Iqbal a great thinker and paid tributes to his life and mission.
Pakistan’s Ambassador to United States Masood Khan congratulated APAG President Ali Rashid for his leadership in having the avenue co-named as ‘Allama Iqbal Avenue’ in New York.
He also paid tribute to Ali Rashid for his resolute efforts to build better relations between Pakistan and the United States and creating greater awareness about the history and culture of Pakistan in the United States.
Speaking on the occasion, Speaker of the New York City Council Adrienne Adams said he is honored to celebrate the renaming of the street as ‘Allama Iqbal Avenue’. He said Allama Iqbal’s work and vision led to the creation of Pakistan as an independent country.
In 2019, a section of a busy avenue in Brooklyn — also a borough of New York City — was named after Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, in a sign of activism by the Pakistani community.
A sign board, bearing the inscription “Mohammad Ali Jinnah Way” was unveiled on the Coney Island Avenue, where the Pakistani community is concentrated
