assalam alikum me dear fellow Pakistanis.. this issue is very close to my heart. We are inching towards 59th year of Pakistani Independence. Its high time we change the names of the cities and places to reflect Islamic/Arabic values. There is a long list- Lahore(a hindu name) Abottabad(named after British general), Lyallpur, Nankana Sahib(after the sikh guru), Bahawalpur etc. We got freedom from India 59 years ago and haven’t progressed in terms of distancing from them. Unless and until we do that, we can’t move a freaking inch forward.
Re: Name changes!
mhmm i disagree
its jsut town/city namess
we dont need to b so closed-minded
Re: Name changes!
Why do the names need be Arabic? 
Besides the way to move forward is not by discarding names, rather educate yourself in sciences, law, art etc and in religion (and follow the religion). Stop the hate based on race/ethnicity/sect/religion etc.
Re: Name changes!
- These names reflect our History and Culture; we will never change them!!!
- We are not Arabs!
- There are Hindus, Sikhs, Christians and Animists living in Pakistan.
Partition from India does not mean that our ethnicities, cultures and history have changed, so why should we change the names of our cities? Just because you have a identity crisis does not mean that the rest of Pakistan wants to become Arab. Get educated on who you are, on your history and your people.
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the names of the cities reflect our history and our culture. in this case...a rose by any other name would stink like rotting cabbage.
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Is this a joke? You want arab names, go to arabia. We can't distance ourselves from our culture. Leave us alone.
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Well replied all.
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Why you are so ashamed of your past that you want to change the existing names??
want to have some new islamic names, go and develop new cities ie Islamabad. thats fine with people.
This is related to our culture and history and its not a sin, its not even a sin to have hindu surname if your father is hindu. you just need to change your own name not the surname, thats allowed in Islam.
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Crazy. We should be proud of our heritage, whether Hindu or animalist or Bhuddist. As we are proud of being Muslim now, we must also take pride in our history. We are not Arabs, why should we want to reflect there values or culture.
No, I am a Pakistani, an Indus person. If my people were Hindus…then let us recognize that and not try and hide it.
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First, plz make a correction. We didn't get freedom from India. We got it from British.
Lets assume what you are saying is right so what does it mean. Do we have to change our own names as well. I mean a lot of us have our names in Urdu, not in Arabic. Arabic is imp for us becasue of Quran but again our language is not Arabic.
There are Hindus, Christains and other minorities live in Pakistan. They've similar kind of ownership to it like Muslims do. This country belongs equally to all who live there - so don't be prejudice. Nankana sahib is a religious and very imp. place for Sikh community and we need to realize it before making any change to it. :)
Re: Name changes!
[QUOTE]
Nobody remembers God and the Prophet;
The consciousness of many ages has passed.
Nobody has transmitted this knowledge in the local language.
From sorrow, I determined
To talk more and more about the Prophet.
It is my misfortune that I was born a Bengali.
None of the Bengalis understand Arabic,
And so not one has understood any of the discourse of his own religion
[/QUOTE]
Saiyid Sultan lamenting over the fact the bengalis didn't understand the language of their religion.
Re: Name changes!
Partition from India does not mean that our ethnicities, cultures and history have changed, so why should we change the names of our cities? Just because you have a identity crisis does not mean that the rest of Pakistan wants to become Arab. Get educated on who you are, on your history and your people.
Excellent points and ones I was about to replicate.
I think 'quas' should change his name! lol
Re: Name changes!
My dear
There is a province in this country where the British raaj coined a name of NWFP being close to Afghanistan and the name still exist. Our leaders have objection to change that as well.
Name reflects the identity and if the names of our cities and places reflects the identity of the people regardless of its historical back ground.
If the name of the city has been changed by the oppressors and attribute that to their identity then it should be changed forthwith.
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Forget about changing city names. The enlightened and moderate people of Pakistan are thinking of changing their children's names so that tomorrow they don't have a problem migrating to the Civilized world.
You know how problematic it is these days to be known by a Muslim name. And yes do not forget the perils of being known by Muslim outlook - dress, sunnahs etc....
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There are far more important issues to be resolved then this.
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:k: Kudos Captain !! A mature response after a long time 
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You know how problematic it is these days to be known by a Muslim name. And yes do not forget the perils of being known by Muslim outlook - dress, sunnahs etc....
Yes, keeping in line with this, the most popular names in Pakistan are going to Rajesh, Raman, Ganesh, Tushar, Ranjeet, Sukhbeer, Jayswar Kaur, Simran, and Shakuntla...
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Too buisy changing Pukhtunistan's name every other year. No need for more work the government can't swallow.