Rename Gaddfi Stadium Lahore to Liberty Stadium

[Frankenstein]

I have no sympathy left for any other country, except .....

 

[Developereo]

I think you find that gaddafi funded part of the pakistani nuke programme also

It doesn't matter what he funded. He is a maniac who ordered helicopter gunships to fire upon his own people. Any number of Libyan diplomats are resigning in protest.

We need to get out of our navel-gazing self-absorption and see what else is happening around the world. Throwing out Gaddafi's name is a clear message that we are with the Libyan people and not the regime.

It's time to stand on the right side of history.

 

[A1Kaid]

How about renaming the stadium "Raymond Davis Stadium"....lol


Anyone support that? Probably VCheng...joke

 

[Luftwaffe]

Why should it be named liberty stadium reminds me statue of liberty..don't bite me I am not against american people.

I would name it Imran Khan Cricket Stadium the only man to take Pak Team forward and Won WC for Pakistan, sadly every Govt that came and gone has ditched and insulted this honest man, every tom dick and harry bridges hospital etc etc have been named in honor of mostly looters except for few..

Other name could be Freedom Stadium.

PS. don't come start talking politics with me. If you don't agree say nothing remain silent.

 

[Hyde]

well very good idea that the stadium should be renamed to something else

I don't know if Liberty Stadium would be the correct name but why not just rename it to its old name that was Lahore Stadium right?

or Allama Iqbal Stadium as we have one Quaid-e-Azam Stadium in Karachi

Two great cities will have two most important stadiums of the country named after two great legends. Nobody would object and everybody happy

 

[Meengla]

No, absolutely no input from this 'man' what so ever.

For some odd reason, Since 'Nizam-e-Mullah' came into existence during Bhutto's time, the government started naming landmarks, roads and even cities after weirdos from the Middle East and North Africa.

It should not have happened but for some reason it did and it must be changed.

T-Faz,
I am sad to see that even an otherwise well-informed, anti-mullah person like you is blaming Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto for the religious-radicalization of Pakistan.
Bhutto was no lover of these fanatics mullahs--just like his political party, to this day, is the most secular national political party in Pakistan. Bhutto did do some cosmetic steps to blunt the mullah-assault just before the 1976 elections but they were mostly 'appeasements' and 'cosmetics'. Nothing fundamentals. Indeed, public drinking was banned, as well as gambling was banned. Above all, cowering to the great pressure by not just mullahs, Bhutto declared Ahmadis as 'Non-Muslims'. But the so-called popular 'Islamic' movement against Bhutto in 1977 was a testament to the fact that ZAB was a threat to the mullah-cracy.
So, yes, ZAB did some cosmetic Islamic steps. BUT none of these steps and none of the educational and official media was used to actively turn Pakistan into some theocracy. Indeed, Bhutto did indulge in grand-standing about the 'Islamic World', about 'anti-imperialism', about close ties with China etc. But even then he kept warm-enough relations with both the Soviet block as well as the Western block.
Above all, Pakistan was the free-est from foreign influence until 1977--the fall of ZAB's government. After that, the country has been basically a giant CIA protectorate, thanks to the Mard i Momin General Zia.
I am old enough to have studied and lived through the Pakistan of the 70's through the 80s. ZAB's so-called 'Islamisation' was not much more than the 'In God We Trust' in a secular American currency bills. But Zia ul Haq's era of the 80s was so genuinely 'wahabbi' that he even started promoting Arabic as the lingua-franca of Pakistan--on top of much else 'Islamic' policies of Zia.

 

[Majnun]

Bhutto's appeasements, as you call them, is what started the Islamization and, in fact, general radicalization of Pakistan. It was then that the idea that a person's could use his own moral values to restrict another person's actions became a part of government policy, thus encouraging it. By the time that Zia came, the trend was already well in place, and even if Zia had wanted to stop it (which he didn't, but that is something else) he would have found it very difficult to stop the radicalization of society.
Bhutto was the one to use Islam in his slogans. Bhutto was the one to declare Ahmadis non-Muslims. Bhutto was the one to outlaw alcohol. Bhutto was the one to include Islam so heavily in his slogans and in Pakistani society. These weren't cosmetic changes, but were green signals from the government to the Islamists that they could continue with government approval.

 

[jahangeer yousaf]

i support the cause ........ name should be changed of Qaddafi stadium and name of faisal masjid should also be changed ............

 

[RabzonKhan]

Liberty stadium sounds good, I am all for it.

No Pakistani city, park, mosque or stadium should be named after despotic dictators.

Here’s an interesting article on why it was named Gaddafi stadium:

What to do with Gaddafi Stadium?

Dawn
By Murtaza Razvi
Feb 26 2011

ALRIGHT, the Lahoris can keep their Charing Crosses and Mayo Gardens, the Bharat Nagars and the Ram Galis, because they belong to the city`s memory, they argue. The past invariably seeps into the present of this most glorious of our historical cities, but surely keeping the coveted cricket ground named after Qadhafi will bring Lahore no glory now.

Let`s face it; many thought it did back in February 1974 when Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, with the Libyan revolutionary in tow, had rechristened the stadium, and for good reason. Col Muammar Qadhafi, although seen as anathema by the monarchs in the Muslim world, was presented as a benefactor of Pakistan by Mr Bhutto.

Those were days as heady as the strong contradictions they presented. Here was Pakistan`s first democratically elected prime minister feasting heads and representatives of some 37 Muslim states, mostly autocrats. The summit brought together leaders whose politics at the height of the Cold War were as far apart as those of the Shah of Iran and Yasser Arafat. Indeed, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman also came to Lahore after Mr Bhutto recognised Bangladesh.

There were absolute monarchs, pro-US and pro-Soviet Union leaders at the 1974 OIC summit: newly-rich Arab sheikhs and popular revolutionaries like Hafez al Assad of Syria, Houari Boumedienne of Algeria, Yasser Arafat of the PLO, together with American-backed monarchs like Mohammed Reza Shah Pehlavi of Iran and King Hussein of Jordan. That they all rallied behind Mr Bhutto`s call for Muslim unity while working at cross purposes in their respective domains, was no less a tribute to ZAB`s charisma.

India responded perhaps to this show of solidarity behind Mr Bhutto by conducting its first nuclear test in May 1974. Bhutto was quick to respond by vowing to expedite work on Pakistan`s own nuclear programme because he could count on financial assistance from his rich Muslim friends. Libya was among the countries that threw open their doors to Pakistani professionals and workers alike after the OIC moot.

Bhutto had traded in the Lahore Stadium for Libya`s financial assistance to his government, and many more jobs for Pakistanis than the sheer number of people who had greeted Qadhafi at the very stadium just months ago.

Most of the world`s Muslim leadership at the time had been converted to the cause of Pakistan. In the process, Lahore`s Charing Cross was rechristened Faisal Chowk (after King Faisal of Saudi Arabia); however, the name never stuck; Lyallpur too was renamed Faisalabad. Gaddafi Stadium stayed firmly as Gaddafi Stadium, despite the Libyan autocrat`s open hostility to Pakistan during the Ziaul Haq years.

Remember the Libyan trade commission in Pakistan was linked to anti-state activities in the 1980s? And Tripoli was the choice destination of Al Zulfikar hijackers who demanded that their jailed friends be delivered to Libya to end the 13-day PIA plane hijack drama in 1981? The prisoners were delivered to Damascus only after Qadhafi abruptly changed his mind as the plane carrying them was in mid-air.

Hundreds of Pakistanis expats were sent packing from Libya in the 1980s; yet, somehow, the petrodollars kept flowing in from Tripoli, not into the government exchequer but to individuals, all the same. Libya, together with Saddam Hussein`s Iraq, supported certain, mainly Barelvi, religious parties and outfits as a counterweight to Saudi money coming in to fund the CIA-backed Afghan jihad; and then there was the A.Q. Khan connection on the transfer of nuclear technology. Somebody there too made good money from Qadhafi, which perhaps was enough to keep the Libyan dictator honoured with his name attached to Pakistan`s premier cricket ground.

But now, as Qadhafi takes on his own people in the most ruthless way, it`s time he also lost the stadium named after him because he`s lost touch with the nation he once claimed to lead. Remember the Shahrah-i-Pehlavis in Quetta and Karachi also lost their names just as the Iranian revolution of 1979 triumphed, and the Shah of Iran fled Tehran. Dawn Lahori`s Notebook Gowalmandi

I am sure my former editor in Lahore, Mr Zafar Iqbal Mirza (Zim), whose inimitable remains a very popular column, would not object reverting to `Lahore Stadium` from `Gaddafi Stadium`. It is not after all (as spelled by the colonial rulers), which he would not allow changing to a more vernacular, . “It`s our heritage, you can`t change it,” he would insist.

 

[dabong1]

It doesn't matter what he funded. He is a maniac who ordered helicopter gunships to fire upon his own people. Any number of Libyan diplomats are resigning in protest.

When?........so far we have heard he has bombed his people,attacked the people with gunships and tanks.......damn he might even use chemical weapons on his own people.......his own people......i will repeat that again......his own people!!!!!
And the international media roaming around libya has found zilch proof of anything.
There must hundreds of thousand of people with mobile phones in libya but non seem to capture any attacks by planes or have we seen loads of bombed out towns ect?

 

[dabong1]

Remember the Libyan trade commission in Pakistan was linked to anti-state activities in the 1980s? And Tripoli was the choice destination of Al Zulfikar hijackers who demanded that their jailed friends be delivered to Libya to end the 13-day PIA plane hijack drama in 1981? The prisoners were delivered to Damascus only after Qadhafi abruptly changed his mind as the plane carrying them was in mid-air.
Hundreds of Pakistanis expats were sent packing from Libya in the 1980s;

Maybe it something to do with bhutto being hanged?

 

[WAQAS119]

Why not create a page on same cause in Facebook? Or should I create one?

 

[Mutee]

very good suggestgion i support it 100%

 

[T-Faz]

T-Faz,
I am sad to see that even an otherwise well-informed, anti-mullah person like you is blaming Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto for the religious-radicalization of Pakistan.
Bhutto was no lover of these fanatics mullahs--just like his political party, to this day, is the most secular national political party in Pakistan. Bhutto did do some cosmetic steps to blunt the mullah-assault just before the 1976 elections but they were mostly 'appeasements' and 'cosmetics'. Nothing fundamentals. Indeed, public drinking was banned, as well as gambling was banned. Above all, cowering to the great pressure by not just mullahs, Bhutto declared Ahmadis as 'Non-Muslims'. But the so-called popular 'Islamic' movement against Bhutto in 1977 was a testament to the fact that ZAB was a threat to the mullah-cracy.
So, yes, ZAB did some cosmetic Islamic steps. BUT none of these steps and none of the educational and official media was used to actively turn Pakistan into some theocracy. Indeed, Bhutto did indulge in grand-standing about the 'Islamic World', about 'anti-imperialism', about close ties with China etc. But even then he kept warm-enough relations with both the Soviet block as well as the Western block.
Above all, Pakistan was the free-est from foreign influence until 1977--the fall of ZAB's government. After that, the country has been basically a giant CIA protectorate, thanks to the Mard i Momin General Zia.
I am old enough to have studied and lived through the Pakistan of the 70's through the 80s. ZAB's so-called 'Islamisation' was not much more than the 'In God We Trust' in a secular American currency bills. But Zia ul Haq's era of the 80s was so genuinely 'wahabbi' that he even started promoting Arabic as the lingua-franca of Pakistan--on top of much else 'Islamic' policies of Zia.

Don't be a Bhutto apologist.

It was Bhutto who initiated the downfall of Pakistan with his policies and the deadly alliance with the Mullahs.

These so called 'appeasements' and 'cosmetics' are the reason why the state of Pakistan is so abysmal today, he was the beginning of our slide downwards.

From nationalizing private enterprises to arming the hardline Afghans, his was the policy that got out of hand.

He chose Zia above so many great soldiers, he killed his opponents, jailed his own partners when the criticized him and betrayed his helpers.

So I am correct.

 

[pak-marine]

TIME TO CHANGE THE NAME OF GADDAFI STADIUM ASAP

I dont understand why named it in the first place , knowing this man and his antics