ISLAMABAD: The federal government has confirmed a nationwide public holiday on Monday, November 9, to mark the birth anniversary of national poet Allama Muhammad Iqbal.
In a press release issued on Thursday, the Cabinet Division reaffirmed the holiday already included in its annual schedule of public and optional holidays.
Government offices and federal institutions will remain closed. Employees and students whose normal weekly holidays fall on Saturday and Sunday will have a three-day break from November 7 to 9. The extended weekend depends on each institution’s regular working schedule.
In Sindh, the School Education and Literacy Department has separately directed public and private educational institutions under its administrative control to close on November 9.
Its notification, issued on Wednesday, follows a decision that the provincial Steering Committee on Education took on February 12. The department instructed regional education authorities to circulate the order among institutions.
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Sindh’s College Education Department has also announced the holiday for public and private institutions within its jurisdiction.
Meanwhile, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has confirmed that it will close on November 9 in observance of the government-declared public holiday.
The central bank communicated the decision in a circular dated November 3, addressed to the presidents and chief executives of banks, development finance institutions and microfinance banks.
Iqbal Day commemorates the poet and philosopher’s contribution to the intellectual foundations of the Pakistan Movement. Born in Sialkot on November 9, 1877, Iqbal’s 149th birth anniversary falls this year.
