National poet Allama Iqbal's home in shambles

Javid Manzil, poet-philosopher Allama Iqbal's home-turned-museum, is in a shambles with termites eating into its foundations, chipped paint, faulty air-conditioners; fused lights and almost no staff.

Curator of the museum Ilyas Bhatti was not available to comment on the museum's condition. The museum staff said he was out of the city. A typist, Ashraf looks after the museum when the curator is away.

Ashraf said the museum was short of staff. There are six attendants in the museum but only three of them work because three seats are vacant due to a ban on jobs. He said no material detailing the history of the museum was available since 1977, the year of Javid Manzil's turning into a museum.

He said around 20 people visited the museum every day. "Only people wishing to research the 'Poet of the East' visit the museum. The general public is not interested in it," he observed.

Going round the museum, the museum staff member said, "We do not allow the general public in this section except for people who research Allama Iqbal. Others damage valuables."

The museum is in bad shape. The building has not been whitewashed for 14 years, the air-conditioners and the lights are out of order and that proved that this historic building has failed to attract the attention of the authorities.

The museum is under the control of the department of archeology. Its Director General admitted that Javid Manzil was in a bad way. He however said it was difficult to do something about it as they only had meagre resources and inadequate funding.