New Delhi: Pakistan’s Punjab government approved a plan to restore several historic streets and roads in Lahore, as they are likely to regain their pre-partition names in order to revive the city’s pre-partition heritage.
More interestingly, many historic sites are often associated with Hindu and Jain communities, which later changed to Islamic, Pakistani, or local influential figures.
Several names changed: Queen’s Road to Fatima Jinnah Road, Jail Road was renamed Allama Iqbal Road, Davies Road became Sir Aga Khan Road, Lawrence Road turned into Bagh-i-Jinnah Road, and Empress Road became Shahrah-i-Abdul Hameed bin Badees.
Ram Gali turned to Rehman Gali
Some Hindu and Jain communities associated streets and chowks were also changed to the Islamic community, such as Krishna Nagar, which turned into Islampura; Santnagar, which was renamed to Sunnat Nagar; Dharampura, which became Mustafabad; Brandreth Road, which turned into Nishtar Road; and Temple Street, which was renamed to Hameed Nizami Road.
Jain Mandir Road turned into Babri Masjid Chowk, Ram Gali became Rehman Gali, Laxmi Chowk was renamed Maulana Zafar Ali Khan Chowk, and Kumharpura became Ghaziabad.
An official from the Punjab government was quoted on PTI as saying that Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz chaired the Punjab Cabinet and approved a plan to restore the original and historical names of several streets and roads in Lahore and its neighbourhood, a few days ago.
To restore the historical names was the initiative led by former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, and last week the cabinet approved his proposal.
Furthermore, Sharif also proposed to revive the three cricket grounds and a traditional akhara (wrestling arena) at Minto Park, now known as Greater Iqbal Park.
Nawaz’s brother, Shehbaz Sharif, was the Chief Minister of Punjab in 2015 and faced massive criticism from the public for demolishing three historic cricket grounds and an akhara.
The cricket grounds have a rich history, as several legendary Pakistani cricketers trained at these grounds, including Pakistan’s former skipper Inzamam-ul-Haq, and before partition, Indian cricketer Lala Amarnath also trained there.
Before partition, Hindus also celebrated Dussehra at Minto Park, which shows the rich history of the Hindu community there.