THE Punjab chief minister has given the go-ahead for naming Lahore’s city roads, intersections and interchanges after renowned personalities.

The decision will now be carried out by the city administration whose recommendations were approved by the chief minister. One of them is naming the road around Qadhafi Stadium after former Pakistan cricket captain and cricket board chief the late Abdul Hafeez Kardar.

This, no doubt, will be appreciated by the cricket enthusiasts given Kardar’s laudable services to the game. However, one feels that the time has now come to change the name of the stadium itself.

The stadium was named after the late Libyan dictator Muammar Qadhafi in 1974 on the occasion of Islamic summit held in Lahore by Z.A. Bhutto’s government in appreciation of his public address at the venue and his friendly ties with Pakistan. Qadhafi has now gone into history, detested and killed by his own people. Democracy is now functioning in the oil-rich North African country. The decision to name the stadium after the Libyan dictator was purely political and had absolutely nothing to do with cricket.

With the Pakistan Super League proposed to be held in March in Lahore, the occasion should be marked by renaming the stadium after the historical city which has produced a number of outstanding cricketers over the years.

FAWAD HASHMEY    Lahore