LAHORE: The Allama Iqbal sculpture, which stirred a storm on social media, has been removed from the Gulshan-e-Iqbal park in Lahore.
The city’s Parks and Horticulture Authority (PHA) announced that it will be taken down and reinstalled after improvements are made to it. Chief Minister Punjab Usman Buzdar had also taken notice and ordered its immediate removal from the park.
A picture was shared on Twitter by a person, showing a group of workers uprooting the boundary fence surrounding the sculpture. “After going viral on social media, Iqbal’s structure is being uprooted,” he wrote.
سوشل میڈیا پے وائرل ہونے کے بعد اقبال کے مجسمے کو اکھاڑا جا رہا ہے۔ pic.twitter.com/4jlRof0vbp
— Rai Shahnawaz (@RaiShahnawaz) February 2, 2021
Yasir Gillani, Chairman PHA, had earlier clarified that the statue had been built by the park’s gardeners out of their sheer love for Allama Iqbal. “Dear, this is prepared by maalis at their own, they made it in sheer love for Iqbal and to pay homage from their heart,” he wrote.
Dear, this is prepared by maalis at their own , they made it in shere love for Iqbal and to pay homage from their heart. Authority didn’t approved or even paid a single penny for it.
WE WILL ADDRESS IT but can anyone see from maalis eye’s, their love and their عقیدت, pic.twitter.com/qAdf0Nw4E9— Yasir Gillani PTI (@yasir_gillani) February 2, 2021
Yasir further said that since the structure was built by the gardeners out of their own pocket money, no action will be taken against them. However, he said that clear directives had been issued to ensure that no sculpture is built inside the park without the park management’s permission.
