Pakistan came into existence only in 1947. However, the roads, buildings, institutions, parks, and many other objects of civilization were built, discovered and used by the common people much before the existence of Pakistan, according to a report in the Travel and Culture.
Immediately after the demise of founder of nation, people in the country started to grab the names for themselves. Some started grabbing lands in the south and some started promoting religion in any way they way they felt was right.
Several parks and monuments were renamed to give Pakistan the image of a Muslim country, disregarding the liberal thought process that was already existent. Lahore, the capital of Punjab, also fell victim to the renaming of major monuments. Places containing any elements of Hinduism renamed to contain Muslim names. Kirshan Nagar and Dev Samaj areas were renamed to “Islam Pura” and Sant Nagar was renamed to “Sunnat Nagar” and later Sandha. The Our Fall road was renamed to “Jeelani Road”, in an attempt to pay homage to Islami Scholar Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jeelani although his educations were buried in the locked libraries. The Shadman Chowk is also now to be named after Bhagat Singh.
This change was not always Islamic. It also attacked historical names like old Grand Trunk road in Lahore when it was renamed after Pakistan’s founder. Queen’s road was renamed Fatima Jinnah Road. Jail Road was changed to Allama Iqbal road and Davis road was renamed to Sir Aga Kha road. Interestingly, the values and teachings of these great men and woman were never adopted nor did the names of these roads completely disappear because of people’s old association with these historic places.
National College of Arts got its name from Mayo School of Arts. Tempbell Street was given the name of the founder of Daily Nawai Waqt Hameed Nizami. This change of names was also brought on to the parks. Lawrence garden of Lahore was renamed to Baghe Jinnah due to change of name of the nearby library from Montgomery Hall to Quaid-e-Azam Library. The historical Munto Park was renamed to Iqbal Park and the Race Course park on Lawrence road was renamed after of Lt. Retired Ghulam Jeelani Khan, who was the Governor of Punjab during the government of Zia ul Haq as Jeelani Park
Javed Sheeda, who is the representative of Parks and Horticulture Authority, says that it is a time consuming and hard job to see when why were these names changed. One will need to check the old files to see how and on what grounds were the names kept and renamed.
Mukhtar Ahmed who has lived in Lahore since 60 years is against this process of changing the names. The old names were given to these places as a recognition of the service of the men who served people in this country. According to him, if the government wanted to remember its national heroes, there are many other platforms to do so. The textbooks of children are full of stories from the past of Pakistan and how it was created. It would be of no use to them if these names and their historic importance is completely wiped out from our everyday existence.
Lahore has seen changed names for many buildings and places but there are still many objects whose names are not yet changed. For example, some of these pleaces are called and used by Lahoris with pride. For example Lady Wellington Hospital, Gulab Devi Hospital, Gangaram Hospital, Mayo hospital. Also the Dayal Singh college Queen Marry College, Canair College and Atchison’s College are saved from the renaming.
The ever-changing names of places in Lahore
