Naming institutions after great party leaders

PESHAWAR: With little focus on genuine problems of the electorates, partners in the NWFP coalition government are preoccupied with renaming old or naming new institutions after their party leaders, built purely at the expense of taxpayers’ hard-earned money.Although the culture of naming buildings, playgrounds, hospitals, educational institutions, roads, etc, after leaders of political parties or national heroes traces back to the early days of the country’s birth: the names-giving spree of political parties gathered considerable momentum over the past few years.Each ruling party, both in the Centre or provinces, tries to outdo its predecessor in naming and renaming more and more public properties after its leaders in an apparent move to win a popular image among the masses although majority of people despise the practice.In some cases in the recent past, construction projects named after party leaders and founders were prematurely inaugurated due to fear of attempts by rival parties to claim it to the names of their leaders. One such recently-taken step by the incumbent provincial government is the construction of a new block at the Civil Secretariat in the name of late Khan Abdul Wali Khan, the seasoned Awami National Party (ANP) leader known for his straightforwardness and belief in practical work instead of running after reputation through nameplates.Besides the construction of the new block at the Civil Secretariat, the ANP government is also going to establish a university in Mardan, the hometown of Chief Minister Ameer Haidar Hoti. The university is named after the veteran Pakhtun leader Khan Abdul Wali Khan. The ANP cannot be singled out for the names-giving spree as its ally in the provincial government, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), is also going all-out to stretch the list of institutions and public buildings being named and renamed after the former two-time prime minister Shaheed Benazir Bhutto.A hospital planned to be constructed in Peshawar city is named as Benazir Bhutto Hospital. A hostel housing the internally displaced persons (IDPs) from Bajaur in Risalpur area of Nowshera district is also named after the late PPP chairperson, while the campus of Malakand University in Upper Dir district has recently been approved as Benazir Bhutto Shaheed University for Science and Technology.The trend was the same when the government of religious parties in the name of Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) was in place in the province.
The Mufti Mahmood Hospital operational in the NWFP’s southern district of Dera Ismail Khan, the hometown of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, was established when the JUI-F was in the driving seat of the provincial government from the year 2002 till late 2007. Mufti Mahmood was the former chief minister of NWFP and father of JUI-F leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman.The MMA government had also planned a flyover project in the city to be named as Mufti Mahmood Flyover. However, the project was shelved owing to security concerns just before the completion of the five-year term of MMA government. Durrani Media Colony for journalists on the outskirts of Peshawar and Akram Durrani Model School in Bannu district are two other public projects named after former chief minister Akram Khan Durrani.Hailing from NWFP’s southern district of Bannu, a hospital, named after father of ex-CM Durrani, is also operational there, while a school in Swabi district has been named as Fazle Ali Public School. Maulana Fazle Ali of the JUI-F was elected to the NWFP Assembly from Swabi and served as education minister in the previous provincial set-up. An education institution was named after Jamaat-e-Islami chief Qazi Hussain Ahmad in Nowshera district, the hometown of JI ameer.In addition, Fazle Haq College Mardan, Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute for Science and Technology in Topi (Swabi) and Hayat Shaheed Teaching Hospital Peshawar are also named after political leaders, no doubt all the three institutions are rendering great services for the people of NWFP.
The Frontier Assembly had also passed a resolution for renaming the Peshawar International Airport as Baacha Khan Airport Peshawar.Remembering leaders like Abdul Wali Khan, Benazir Bhutto or Mufti Mahmood is no doubt a noble task as all the three figures rendered great sacrifices for the country and democracy, but the people want their successors to stick to their political philosophies and truly serve the masses instead of cashing names of their leaders for political gains.