PESHAWAR: Peshawar High Court on Thursday sought reply of the provincial government to a plea challenging the renaming of Peshawar’s Arbab Niaz Cricket Stadium to Imran Khan Cricket Stadium.

A bench consisting of Justice Syed Arshad Ali and Justice Sadiq Ali fixed April 1 for the next hearing of the petition requesting the court to declare as illegal and against the law the last year’s decision of the KP government to rename the stadium.

The petition is jointly filed by several social and political figures of Peshawar including Amjad Ali Arbab, Haji Ghulam Ahmad Bilour, Haji Ghulam Ali, Arbab Mohammad Alamgir, Arbab Khizar Hayat and Kashif Azam.

The petitioners’ counsel Ali Gohar Durrani informed the court that the provincial government had renamed the Arbab Niaz Cricket Stadium to Imran Khan Cricket Stadium, a decision approved by the provincial cabinet on Feb 21, 2025.

He argued that renaming the stadium was against the guidelines of the administration department. He stated that according to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa administration department’s guidelines, public assets cannot be named after a living person.

During the course of hearing Justice Arshad Ali remarked that there were judicial decisions stating that a place couldn’t be named after a living person.

He suggested that the government should construct a new stadium if it wished to do so, and then name it accordingly.

Justice Ali remarked that there were decisions from Peshawar High Court and Balochistan High Court on this matter, stating that a place cannot be named after a living person.

An additional advocate general requested the court to grant some time to submit a report on behalf of the government.

Mr Durrani stated the stadium was constructed in 1984 and its initial name was Shahi Bagh Cricket Stadium, which was changed to Arbab Niaz, a former federal minister and political figure of Peshawar, in 1987.

He stated that according to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Local Council Rules 1994, once a place is named, it couldn’t be changed for 50 years.

He stated that the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s founder Imran Khan had himself expressed displeasure over the provincial government’s decision when it was announced last year.

He said that Arbab Niaz Stadium was Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s only international cricket ground.

He said that from 1984 to 2006, 15 One-Day Internationals and six Test matches were played at this ground, with the last international match being played between Pakistan and India in February 2006.

He added that no international match had been played there since.

The counsel said that renovation work on the cricket ground began in 2017 and after it was completed, its name was changed.

He stated that National T20 matches were played at the ground during Ramazan, and one match for PSL 2026 was scheduled to take place there on March 28, however, due to the energy crisis, matches were limited to Lahore and Karachi.

Published in Dawn, March 27th, 2026