LAHORE: The government has decided to name different roads, streets, intersections and important spots of the city after famous personalities, including, poets, artists, politicians, singers, martyrs etc to pay tribute to these icons and also to make people, especially the youth, aware of the services they rendered in their respective fields.

The government has also started compiling a list of such personalities in consultation with the civil society activists and others concerned, Dawn has learnt.

According to a senior official, the names of the famous deceased personalities shortlisted in this regard include Asma Jahangir, IA Rehman, Uzma Gilani, Nazia Hassan, Brig Hassan Ifzaal Shaheed, Brig Husnain Shaheed, Captain Afnan Shaheed, Tariq Aziz (Neelam Ghar fame), Nusrat Fateh Ai Khan, Bulleh Shah, Arif Nizami, Hafeez Jalandhari, Munir Niazi, Saadat Hasan Manto, Bano Qudsia, Munnoo Bhai, Waheed Murad, Sultan Rahi, Rangeela, Santosh Kumar, Daleep Kumar, Munawar Zareef, Khalida Riasat, Ahmed Nadeem Qasmi, Maharaj Khathak, Mohammad Rafi, Om Parkash, Pran, Baba Chishti, Ustad Allah Bakhsh, Qateel Shifai, Roohi Bano, Saghar Siddiqi, Saher Ludhianvi, A Hameed, Moeen Akhtar, Mehboob Alam, Abid Ali, Ghayur Akhtar, Tahira Naqvi, Tahira Wasti, Kamal Ahmed Rizvi, Nasir Kazmi, Majeed Amjad, Zameer Jafri, Aziz Mian (qawal), Ustad Daman, Habib Jalib, Amrata Pritam, Ahmed Faraz, Perveen Shakir, Jaun Elia, Israr Ahmed, Durdana Butt, Amrita Shergil, Colin David, Justice Cornelius, Shakir Ali, Hassan Nasir, Mian Iftikharuddin, Mazhar Ali Khan, Tahira Mazhar Ali, Ganga Ram, Sadeqaen, Soofi Tabassum, Neelo, Mian Ameeriddin, Dr Nazeer Ahmed, Eqbal Ahmed, Mohsin Naqvi, Farooq Qaiser, Albela, Maeraj Khalid, Jahangir Badar, Khalid Sherdil, AZK Sherdil, Hassan Sardar, Jahangir Khan, Abdul Rasheed (junior), Jansher khan, Gogi Allauddin, Qamar Zaman, Abdul Majid, Zaheer Abbas, Javed Miandad, Waseem Akram, Dulla Bhatti, Ahmed Parvez, Anwer Jamal, Shemza, Khalid Iqbal, Zahoorul Akhlaq, Akhlaq Ahmed, Sohail Qaiser, Ghazi Ilmudin Shaheed, Gul Jee, Nanna, Shokat Ali, Mastana, Babbu Barral, Amanullah Khan, Asad Amanat ali, Ustad Amanat Ali and Sohail Raana.

“The list of personalities is almost final. But we will welcome anyone to come forward and suggest any other name worth including in the list,” Local Government & Community Development Department Secretary Noorul Amin Mengal told Dawn on Sunday.

“The list of roads, streets, intersections etc not named so far is also being compiled,” he added. The PML-N’s provincial government had in 2012 also named over two dozen city spots after renowned personalities. The spots named after different icons included underpasses of Doctors’ Hospital, Jinnah Hospital, New Campus, Muslim Town, Ferozepur Road, FC College, Jail Road, The Mall Road, Dharampura, Mughalpura, Harbanspura, Canal Road and Barki Road (on the GT Road) after Chaudhry Rehmat Ali, Chaakar-e-Azam Rind, Khushhal Khan Khattak, Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai, Liaquat Ali Khan, Justice A R Cornelius, Waris Shah, Bulleh Shah, Hussain Shaheed Suharwardi, Habba Khatoon, Jogindar Lal Mandal and Col Mirza Hassan Khan Gilgiti, respectively.

The then government had also named Model Town underpass after poet Faiz Ahmad Faiz, besides approving naming of Niazi, Ravi, Mahmood Booti and Babu Sabu interchanges after Ikramullah Niazi, Ustad Daman, Nusrta Fateh Ali Khan and Sadequain, respectively.

Similarly, the Saggian Bridge was named after Justice A R Kayani, Akbar Chowk (Township) after Jalaluddin Akbar, 7-up Chowk (Gulberg) after Waheed Murad, Fawara Chowk (Shadman) after Bhagat Singh, Hamdard Chowk after Hakeem Muhammad Saeed, Cooperative Chowk after Allama Rasheed Ahmad Turabi, Fort Road after Maualana Abdul Qadir Azad, Istanbul Chowk after Pitras Bukhari and Gaddafi Stadium Road (Main Gate to Liberty) after Hafeez Kardad.

However, the Shadman’s Fawar Chowk couldn’t be named after freedom fighter Bhagat Singh because of protests by some religious groups.

Moreover, the name of Campus underpass on the Canal Road was later changed and named after Prof Waris Mir in 2012, but it was renamed as Kashmir underpass in 2019.

Published in Dawn, August 16th, 2021