Mr. Iqbal was born in Jaffna in 1937 and has had his education at the Jaffna Hindu College and the University of Ceylon, Peradeniya. He retired from the Administrative Service of Sri Lanka in 1997 after nearly 40 years of service in different positions under the government of Sri Lanka.

Among the positions Mr Iqbal held was that of Assistant Commissioner of Co-operative Development in Jaffna, Mannar and Colombo, one of the Secretaries in the Secretariat of the first Governor of the Western Provincial Council, Secretary and Secretary to four Presidential Commissions of Inquiry two of which had
been on the Disappearances of Persons. He was also a visiting lecturer at the Co-operative Training College in Kandy. While in service he did his studies in the field of Management at the Sri Lanka Institute of Development Administration where he later served as a visiting lecturer. He was also a visiting lecturer at the Institute of Human Rights in Sri Lanka.

After retirement Mr Iqbal served as a Consultant to National Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka, The Law and Society Trust of Sri Lanka, the Asia Foundation in Sri Lanka and finally as an Adviser to the International Independent Group of Eminent Persons who had been invited to oversee the investigations into serious human rights violations by a Presidential Commission of Inquiry in Sri Lanka during 2006. In 2005 he followed an advanced course of study in Human Rights and Humanitarian Law at the International Service for Human Rights in Geneva. He had travelled to many countries and made
presentations at seminars and workshops on issues relating to human rights in Sri Lanka. Many of his writings on human rights issues are available in the internet. He has also served as a Consultant at the Asia Pacific Division of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on two different occasions.

Mr Iqbal was nominated to the Sri Lanka Campaign’s Advisory Council in March 2025.