The announcement was made on Friday by Awami National Party’s Asfandyar Wali Khan at a short ceremony held at the airport. Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani had earlier approved that the airport will be renamed.
According to a press statement, the ceremony was held at the lounge of the airport and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Amir Haider Khan Hoti, Senator Afrasyab Khattak and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Information Minister Iftikhar Hussain were present.
Earlier, at a public gathering in Peshawar on Thursday, the ANP chief had announced that the airport will be renamed.
The airport was made an international airport in 1965, and is served by middle-east’s best airlines including Emirates, Ettihad, Qatar Airways and GulfAir.
COMMENTS (36)
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Baacha Khan was the real traitor like Mir Jafir and Mir Saddiq, he was one of the stupid and idiot personalities in the world, His party is the most corrupt party in the world. Shame on you Baacha Khan, a traitor of the muslim world. He was willing to not to be buried on the soil of Pakistan.
@Abid P. Khan: North-West Frontier Province ,khaber pakhtunkhwa,pathan, taliban,Afghania or khan,
: these name has been named on our people by the arabs ,iranin or by someone in islambad panjabi
@Khan: the great Bacha Khan was buried on pashtuns land who k if it was afghanistan or pakhtunkhwa,why pashtuns are making differences among pashtuns them self ? why pashtuns are divided in the name of punjabi urdu dari farci, pashtuns should see them self pashtun as one united pashtunistan
Lets accept facts, the speed with which demographics are changing in the country wouldn't it be wiser to be prepared for the future. Karachi sea port functions as an offloading point for goods destined for the landlocked country of Afghanistan.
I propose that Karachi city should be renamed Afghania. When was the last time you heard a person from Kabul using any travel documents for traveling to Karachi.
@Everyone Bacha Khan was buried in Jalalabad because it was his ancestral graveyard .. All of his children are buried in Charsadda Pakistan.
plz dont hurt bacha khan soul cuz he hated so much Pakistan and died in Afghanistan in jalalabad.why u hurting him never want a today Pakistan
its ok to name places by quaideazam name or allama iqbal but the panjabi find a sine, to name the airport after great bacha khan,
why bacha khan name was changed??? it's an airport not thier property'....... if anyone have this objection then recommend this!!!!!!!
i cant under stand its is story of reporter or is it press realse
@khurrum:
Please read my earlier post and dont condemn all non pushtuns.I understand he is an emotive issue for many people not just Pushtuns.I think naming the airport should not be made a big issue the present ANP has sacrificed alot for solidarity of Pakistan.
@K. Salim Jahangir: peshawar is pashtuns land so as afghanistan so what if he was buried our there, the good thing is he was not buried in panjab
renameing.the airport after Bacha Khan is very nice thing do i like it bach khan baba was a great man,this will make the pakhtun identity alive,we want everything to be renamed on pashtuns land in pashto or after our elders, i love it i allways use peshawar Bacha Khan airport
i want my mony to go tow pashtuns every pashtuns should do that,we should buy or use every thing that is pakhto made, long live the great bacha khan we will never forget him,
It's a great step taken by ANP and must work hard in the future for making their & Pukhtoons identity. Long live Pakhtana...
why name a Pakistani airport.why not an Afghan air port.
Very pathetic comments by Non pashtuns . i understand that Bacha khan was persecuted by Pakistani establishment,just like British establishment. it is refreshing we honoured a true soldier of Islam who was Non Violent. it is high time we recognise true history and not lies taught as Pakistan studies , taught in schools. Bacha had accepted Pakstan and participated in Pakistan after defeating a British stooge and Bureucrat Sahibzada Qayum khan, which is proof that Bacha khan was a good Muslim and Pakistani.
People who are talking rubbish do not know much about the great leader Bacha Khan.. please read some history before commenting negative. If leaders like him existed today, the region would be in so much peace n harmony right now. No one can deny him his heroic status, although I'm sure he would have liked to be remembered as just an ordinary soldier fighting for his land and injustice.
Naming the airport is quite common in Pakistan and many other countries.ANP being party of Bacha Khan is the ruling party in KP.It is not a big surprise if it wants to name the airport after its founder. There are many political parties and leaders who initially opposed Pakistan however accepted it later. and are part of the political main stream now .JI being one of the parties.
Lets not make an issue out of this.ANP is a main stream political party of Pakistan
I think Sher Shah Suris reference to A for Afghania in PAkistan is a valid point for those for and against federation of Pakistan.It symbolises the closeness of those living on either sides of the border.
FYI I am not a Pushtun.
Thank you
Pakistan Zindabad.
Its a tribute to a great man who spent every third day of his life in jail to fight for the independence and rights of the people. He contributed a lot to the society in many ways like creating political and social awareness in masses for getting education, women rights and social reforms.We should respect it, as the international community has recognized it and nominated him for World Peace Prize in 1984. A lot of people have respect for him in their hearts and feel offended when someone abuse him.
Congratulations 2 all pakhtoon fellows on this great step,,, an overwhelming effort nd a great victory for the afghan descendents,, cant express my feelings nd emotions for wat will be da level of my excitement wen i c on the flight schedule board of any intl airport BACHA KHAN INT'L AIRPORT... let the people explore da burried facts about a legendry Pukhtoon leader whose name was expelled out of our own ethics nd history scriptures... apart from dat it is the requirment of time and the obedience of duty to cop with the current demographical aspects as to be mentioned the names of pre existing int'l airports signing above the names of the legendry people belonging to those particular geographies.. i.e. Jinnah int'l, iqbal int'l and so on... To be a statesperson rather than a politician one should not evoke such issues to prevent the fuel from the lit...
Bacha Khan was known as the GANDHI of Sarhad, a person who always opposed Father of the Nation Quaide Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah and also opposed the creation of Pakistan itself!!! and ANP is the same separatist party! This is a case of treason, people of KPK love Pakistan and we can not tolerate this Anti Pakistanism being promoted! and yes Bacha Khan had refused to be buried in Pakistan, of course he didnt deserve this PAK soil!!!!!
@Lobster: I am sure sitting in somewhere in Punjab it might immediatley not be visable to you or other provinces beside Pakhtunkhwa. The biased anti Pakhtun media and the pro Punjab Dominated Establishment anchors often give a negative coverage to the ANP. This may be the reason why you might imagen this . The fact is what the ANP has achieved for the betterment of Pashtuns in 4 years of Government than any previous Provincial government. This is a fact, it is very easy to make up lies and keep repeating them which ar unsubstantiated. The reason for this is well known.
KPK govt has nothing to do except renaming places after their leader's name, it doesn't make sense to rename Peshawar airpor as Bacha khan airportt, please do something for the betterment of people not renaming places
we love bacha Khan he was the real hero and congratulations to all khudai khidmatgarz and no violent soldiers of Islam and wellcome all the visitors on Bacha khan A torch for peace Airport
congratulations Bacha khan the real hero , if one feel jealous let them , victory for the torch of peace the real king khan badshah khan who took part in making an independence against Britishers on non violence philosophy. we are proud of him. Few are the people who leave their marvelous imprints on the course of History.
Bacha Khan,according to my information is buried in Jalalabad Afghanistan,because he refused to be buried in Pakistan.How can we accept Peshawar airport after his name?Somebody should correct me if am wrong!!
The leaders of both parties PPP & ANP are playing their politics on their dead leaders. A real shame & tell us the ability of the leadership of these parties. Hardly any country of the world rename the institutions in the name of political leaders like this. Let hope they will not change the name of Pakistan to their dead leaders. This is really pathetic situation & doesn't reflect the real people of Pakistan.
That is not picture of Peshawar airport.
to be quite honest one should think they'll be renaming this country pretty soon. A shame that all the politicos do is squabble amongst each other and rename historic places after people who didn't hold any great affection for the country in the first place.
What's in a name...by changing names of province or changing names of airport cannot bring back Pakistan on track....don't know why ANP and MQM are focusing on un-productive areas...
How does renaming an airport put bread on tables or offer education to the taxpayers. Tens of thousands will be spent on formalizing this change.
Can these leaders actually do anything construction instead of renaming already developed facilities?