Renaming roads: befitting tribute to heroes

[Salman]

Renaming roads: befitting tribute to heroes

LAHORE – Confusion reigns in the City District Government Lahore (CDGL) over the renaming of a portion of the Lawrence Road stretching from Regal Chowk to Queens Road, The Nation has reliably learnt.
According to details, some CDGL officials took the initiative of renaming the said portion of the Lawrence Road as ‘Cecil Chaudhry Road’, to honour the 1965 Pak-India War hero following his death in April this year.
No better tribute could have been paid to the late Cecil Chaudhry since the Saint Anthony’s High School and College, which he successfully ran as principal for years, is located right in the middle of this portion.
Little did these officials, however, know that this portion of the Lawrence Road had already been renamed as ‘Mian Shafi or Meem Sheen Road’, after a noted leader of the Pakistan Movement! It is pertinent to mention here that this name was not used or notified for adoption by the general public.
This controversy has sparked a debate which government department or agency should be the final deciding authority in this regard?
Sharing details of the controversy, official sources informed this scribe that CDGL Information Section head Dr Nadeemul Hassan Gillani had published an advertisement in the newspapers a few of months ago that the portion of the Lawrence Road stretching from Regal Chowk to Queens Road had been renamed as ‘Cecil Chaudhry Road’.
When this scribe contacted CDGL District Officer Road-III Waqar Goraya, he feigned ignorance about the matter though the portion of the Lawrence Road falls in his jurisdiction. “I have not received any notification or instruction regarding renaming of any City road as ‘Cecil Chaudhry Road’,” he maintained.
However, after consulting his assistant, Goraya said the portion of the Lawrence Road had been renamed by Gillani in his personal capacity and he was the only person who could answer why.
When contacted, Nadeem ul Hassan Gillani told this scribe that he received directions from Punjab Chief Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif after the death of Cecil Chaudhry to rename the said portion of the Lawrence Road after the national hero.
“In compliance with the chief minister’s directions, I published an advertisement in a section of the print media that might be considered proposal-cum-notification for renaming of the Lawrence Road because the official process for issuing a notification in this regard would have taken months,” said Gilani, adding that boards of ‘Cecil Chaudhry Road’ shall soon be erected on both sides of the road.
The portion of the Lawrence Road stretching from Regal Chowk to Queens Road is best known for the Saint Anthony’s High School and College, which is one of the most prestigious educational institutions of the City. Its alumni include leading personalities in all walks of life, including twice former prime minister Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif.
Considering this, it would be appropriate to rename the portion of the Lawrence Road stretching from Regal Chowk to Queens Road ‘Cecil Chaudhry Road’, as a fitting tribute to the noted educationist, human rights activist and veteran fighter pilot.
The late Cecil Chaudhry was born in 1941. As a flight lieutenant, he fought in the 1965 Pak-India War; and later, as a squadron leader, in the 1971 Pak-India War. During the 1965 war, Chaudhry and three other pilots destroyed the Amritsar Radar Station in a difficult attack, for which he was awarded the Sitara-e-Jurrat.
Cecil Chaudhry became an educationalist after retiring from the Pakistan Air Force. He first served the Saint Anthony’s High School and College as principal for many years and then the Saint Mary’s Academy, Rawalpindi, from where he retired in July 2011.
Cecil Chaudhry died at the age of 70 in Lahore on 11 April after a long battle with lung cancer.