CHAKWAL: The Chakwal Municipal Committee’s decision to rename the city’s only public park – Committee Bagh – after the late PML-N MPA Chaudhry Liaquat Khan has generated some controversy, particularly after ‘Liaquat Park’ was written on the building of the Iqbal Library, which is located inside the park.

The move was described by opposition leader in the Municipal Committee, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s (PTI) Akbar Badshah, as “totally against the law”. Mr Badshah said the decision was made during a session that had been boycotted by the opposition, adding: “We will challenge this unlawful decision in court.”

Chaudhry Sajid Ali Baig, a senior member of the Chakwal Bar Association, agreed that the decision was against the law.

“Any road or street could be renamed after a personality under the Punjab Local Council Rules 1981. The law is very clear in this regard. But in renaming Committee Park, the procedure outlined in the law has not been followed,” he explained.

“This is a clear violation of the Punjab Local Council Rules 1981, as no public place can be renamed after a questionable personality,” Chaudhry Talat Mehmood, joint secretary of PTI’s Rawalpindi division lawyer’s wing, claimed.

The Punjab Local Council Rules state that no road or street shall be named after someone who was not the founder of the nation or at the forefront of the freedom movement and took part in the creation of Pakistan, someone who sacrificed his life in the country’s defence, a deceased national personality with an unblemished record of services to the nation, a living or deceased head of state friendly to Pakistan, someone who rendered distinguished services in an urban council, a famous character from Islamic history, or a foreign national in respect of whom permission is granted by the federal government.

The law forbids the renaming of a road or street after someone who is a sitting member of an urban council, who holds any public office in a local council, provincial or federal government or any other public authority, or is a public representative.

“Every proposal for the assignment of a name to a new road or street or for change in the name of an existing road or street shall be published for inviting objections and suggestions in such manner as an urban local council may determine and the final proposal shall be made after taking such objections and suggestions, if any, into consideration,” the rules state.

The local urban council must forward its proposal to the government for final approval.

The law also applies to other public places.

However, the Chakwal Municipal Committee did not publish any proposal to invite objections or suggestions, as mandated by the aforementioned rules, before moving to rename Committee Bagh.

“If such an illegal and controversial practice goes unchecked, any influential politician, or any political party in power, could also make such illegal decisions in the future,” Mr Baig warned.

With 39 seats out of the total 47, the PML-N enjoys an overwhelming majority in the Chakwal Municipal Committee. The committee’s chairman, Chaudhry Sajjad Ahmed, was close to Chaudhry Liaquat Khan, who died on Oct 30 last year.

When contacted, Mr Ahmad said a resolution was passed soon after Khan’s death which proposed renaming Committee Bagh after the MNA out of respect for his services, as he had served Chakwal for three decades.

Mr Ahmad admitted that a proposal in this regard was not published, but claimed publishing a proposal was unnecessary.

Published in Dawn, April 30th, 2018