LAHORE: Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) Emir Sirajul Haq has criticised the government for cancelling the Iqbal Day holiday and `drifting away from Iqbal`s ideology`.

Talking to the media after laying a floral wreath at Iqbal`s mausoleum here on Monday, he said the government was shy of showing its allegiance to Allama Iqbal, butwarned that by drifting away from the poet`s philosophy, the country could neither achieve development nor maintain its identity as a respectable, dignified state.

Taking strong exception to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif`s statement regarding a liberal Pakistan, Haq said hundreds of thousands of Muslims of the subcontinent had not sacrificed their lives for creation of a `westernised, liberal state`.

`The Muslims undertook histo-ry`s biggest migration to be able to lead their lives in accordance with a system based on Shariah,`he added.

Urging the prime minster to withdraw the statement, he said by cancelling the Iqbal Day holiday the government had given a message that it had no concern with Iqbal`s ide ology.

The JI chief remarked that the government neither had any vision nor any goal before it.

Meanwhile, a delegation ofPakistan Awami Tehreek and Minajul Quran also laid a wreath at the mausoleum of Allama Iqbal and prayed on behalf of party Chairman Dr Tahirul Qadri.

Talking to the media, the delegation also chided the government for not announcing a holiday on the birth anniversary of the poet. The delegation also visited the mausoleum of Rajneet Singh and expressed solidarity with Sikh leaders there.