Quirky Allama Iqbal statue in Lahore park hot topic on social media

LAHORE: A large sculpture of national poet Allama Mohammad Iqbal installed at a Lahore park has drawn humour and derision from netizens, and calls for the authorities to remove it.

A social media user posted a picture of the oversized bust with a caption criticising its artistic accuracy. 

“There’s nothing wrong in this but it doesn’t look like Allama Iqbal,” she pointed out.

The post went viral in a span of a few hours, with Twitterati barraging the provincial authorities with the demand to replace it as soon as possible.

However, it turns out that the sculpture was made in good faith by well-meaning people.

A local media report said that the statue was not the creation of a professional artist but an amateur tribute by the park's gardeners to the national poet. It had been unveiled on the 73rd Independence Day at Lahore’s Gulshan-i-Iqbal Park.

It is not the first time that the PTI has come under fire for such a weird act related to a national figure. In 2017, the PTI leaders received backlash when they cut a cake with a bizarre picture of Quad-e-Azam on it.