Son of late Arbab Niaz slams cricket stadium renaming

PESHAWAR: Shahzad Arbab, the son of the late Arbab Niaz, has criticized the decision of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to rename the cricket stadium bearing his father’s name after Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf founder Imran Khan.

The decision was made by Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur and then taken to the provincial cabinet which approved the same on Friday.The decision divided parliamentarians of PTI, with some of them feeling that it was not the right way to pay homage to the party’s founding chairman.

It has hurt some of the party-elected politicians from Peshawar and those associated with the Arbab family.Shahzad Arbab, a retired civil servant and former advisor on establishment to Imran Khan, was taken by surprise when he came to know about the KP government decision.

He said Arbab Niaz played a role in the establishment of the stadium in 1980. Shahzad Arbab recalled that his father was elected as the first mayor of Peshawar in the 1979 elections, and given the extensive powers vested in the mayor’s office at the time, he initiated work on the stadium on land owned by the Municipal Corporation Peshawar MCP).

Later, when Arbab Niaz served as the federal minister for culture, tourism, and sports, he worked towards the stadium’s development.Following Arbab Niaz’s death in 1987, the MCP passed a resolution renaming the stadium in his honour in recognition of his contributions.

“For 38 years, the name remained unchanged. Now, Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur has abruptly ordered the renaming of the stadium after Imran Khan. Why not rename another venue, such as the Hayatabad stadium, instead?” he questioned.

He recalled that in December 2017, under Imran Khan’s own directives, the KP cabinet had decided that no government buildings or stadiums would be renamed after a living individual.“The [present] chief minister was part of that cabinet. Has he forgotten that decision? It was Imran Khan’s own stance that no public institution should bear the name of any person,” he remarked.

Shahzad Arbab emphasized that the renaming of Cricket Stadium after Arbab Niaz was a decision made by the MCP, and not influenced by his family.“If the government insists on renaming places, it should at least acknowledge the contributions of individuals before making such decisions. Instead of engaging in symbolic renaming, the chief minister should focus on addressing corruption, improving governance, and accelerating development in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,” he said.

It merits mentioning here that the previous PTI government headed by Mahmood Khan in April 2018 announced a renovation plan for Arbab Niaz Stadium in Peshawar and allocated Rs1.377.87 billion.

The project was later revised in April 2021 as the government could not complete its renovation work on time and its cost went up to Rs1.947.15 billion.Again the government was not able to complete the renovation work and its cost has now risen to Rs2.316.54 billion.