In Lawrence College Ghoragali, there is widespread outrage brewing against a decision taken by the institute’s board of governors (BoGs) to rename the four houses of boys’ hostel and a hall from the names of Muslim heroes to pre-partition British reverends. The Walker House, Wright House, Wrighwick House, Peake House and Lawrence Hall were renamed in 1973 as Jinnah House, Iqbal House, Babar House, Tipu House and Hamid Hall by the then Pakistan People’s Party government.
The Lawrence Hall was renamed after the first Muslim teacher and principal of the college, Chaudhry Abdul Hamid, who had served the college for 28 years. But the change made in1973 was annulled on May 3, 2011 in a meeting of BoGs chaired by Punjab Governor Latif Khosa. People from various walks of life have condemned the move and are strongly demanding the decision’s reversal. Columnist Ikram Sehgal, in a recent column carried by an English daily, also came hard on the BoG’s decision.
He demanded the Punjab governor to restore the names of the Pakistani and Muslim heroes. Sehgal, while describing the “conspiracy” of name change, attributed a statement, “what did Babar and Tipu ever do for Pakistan?” to a member of the board who supported this change. Sehgal argued, “This country reveres the names of Jinnah, Iqbal, Babar and Tipu, once the houses were renamed after them, it is not right that they should be so changed back to the British reverends who had nothing to do with either India’s Muslims or Pakistan, since during their time in charge of the school, no natives were allowed to be admitted for study in the college.”
Reportedly, slain Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer had decided to revert the houses’ names to the British reverends, however the move was delayed because of opposition from the members of the board. His successor, Governor Latif Khosa honored Taseer’s wish by renaming Jinnah House as Walker House, Iqbal House as Wright House, Wrightwick House as Babar House, Tipu House as Peake House and Hamid Hall as Lawrence Hall.
Sehgal called the decision hasty, ill-conceived and unrepresentative that had wiped out the last four decades of college and Pakistan’s history and ethos. Referring to a Facebook poll, he claimed the current college students, staff, parents and a very large number of Old Gallians condemned the decision. Lawrence College is known as one of Pakistan’s elite educational institutions and for its glorious academic tradition. It was established in 1860 and is named after Sir Henry Lawrence. It was founded to provide education to orphans and the children of the British servicemen in India.