Capital residents suggest naming airport after Edhi, Quaid

NA committee approves Quaid-i-Azam as name for the facility

ISLAMABAD: With less than a month remaining till some of the biggest passenger planes in the world land at the New Islamabad International Airport (NIIA), a new race has begun: what should the airport be called?

Last week, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif set up a special committee with a single task – propose a new name for the airport. The debate has taken a new turn on the streets of the capital and online over what should the new name of the facility be, especially after an NA panel finalised a name.

Streets say ‘Edhi’

In the capital, which will be the primary beneficiary of the new airport, everyone seems excited about the new facility.

But everyone has a different answer to the simple question about the new name for the airport.



A large number of ordinary people whom The Express Tribune spoke to, wanted the new airport to be named after renowned social worker Abdul Sattar Edhi.

“It would be a befitting tribute to name the airport after Edhi who served the poor regardless of their cast, colour or creed,” said Ahmed, an Islamabad resident.

But others also suggested that it should be named Quaid-i-Azam, or after the country’s first prime minister Liaquat Ali Khan.

Some even offered untraditional choices such as Pakistan’s first Nobel Laureate Dr Abdus Salam. Others still wanted it to be named after the man who helped give the country a nuclear bomb, Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan.

Some people also thought that the airport should be simply named ‘Islamabad International Airport’. One suggested naming it Gandhara or Potohar. The former the civilisation which existed in the area and ruins are located in nearby Taxila while the other is the name of the region where some parts of the airport fall in. Some even suggested Baba Guru Nanak or Ranjeet Singh – an ode to the birthplace of Sikhism and one of the most well-known rulers of the region.

One person also jokingly suggested naming the airport after former Army Chief Raheel Shareef while another suggested that the airport should be named after the man who initiated the project in the first place, former dictator General (retired) Pervez Musharraf.

Another resident said that whatever the name, it should be something which all Pakistanis can relate to, hence it should not be named after politicians from a single political party, as he alluded to how the current airport and a road in Rawalpindi were named after former prime minister Benazir Bhutto under the reign of Pakistan Peoples Party.

NA panel suggestions

Meanwhile, the topic of naming the airport was hotly debated in a meeting of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Rules of Procedure and Privileges at the Parliament House on Thursday.

The committee, chaired by MNA Junaid Anwar Chaudhry, passed a resolution unanimously recommending that the name of the new Islamabad Airport should be “Quaid-i-Azam International Airport”.

Online debate

The decision over a new name has also generated heated debates on social media over the new name.



“New Islamabad Airport deserves a historical name …Gandhara International, 3,000 years old …” wrote Mahr Wains as he posted pictures of the Taxila ruins.

“There is already an airport which is associated with Quaid [-e-Azam], they should change the name of Karachi’s airport now,” said Nadir Daman over naming the Islamabad airport after the founder of the nation.

“Doesn’t make sense to have two airports on Quaid’s name, either the capital or his city of birth,” he added.

“New Islamabad Airport to be named ‘Quaid-i-Azam International Airport’. Why can’t we name it Edhi International Airport,” asked Kamran Yousaf on microblogging site Twitter on Friday.

(WITH ADDITIONAL INPUT FROM  APP)

Published in The Express Tribune, July 22^nd, 2017.