Sharif urges ban on renaming of Pak institutions

ISLAMABAD, MARCH 29: Pakistan Premier Nawaz Sharif will urge the Punjab government to frame laws banning the renaming of institutions bui...

ISLAMABAD, MARCH 29: Pakistan Premier Nawaz Sharif will urge the Punjab government to frame laws banning the renaming of institutions built by Hindu and British philanthropists before independence.

At a convocation ceremony at King Edward Medical College recently, Sharif said institutions like the Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, Gulab Devi Hospital, Bhawal Victoria Hospital, King Edward Medical College (KEMC) and the Foreman Christian College were founded by public spirited persons “who had made great sacrifices” to establish them.

He said he had no objection if KEMC

was upgraded to a university and if the building and name remained unchanged.

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The Prime Minister also said there should be no change in the layout of the building.

Those at the helm of affairs in Islamabad before Zulfikar Ali Bhutto also did not bother changing the names of institutions and public places.

Bhutto however rechristened Hindu Bagh in Baluchistan as Muslim Bagh and Campbellpore was renamed Faisalabad after the late King Faisal ofSaudi Arabia.

Some institutions he named after himself.

When Sharif assumed power in 1990, a college for girls in Lahore was named after him. The next prime minister, Benazir Bhutto, changed it to the original `Government Girls’ College’.

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But with Sharif’s return to power, the college was renamed after him.