NA passes resolution to rename Islamabad Airport as Benazir Bhutto Int’l Airport. The National Assembly passed a resolution on Thursday to rename Islamabad International Airport as Benazir Bhutto International Airport with majority votes.
The newly-constructed airport was made operational in May 2018 by the previous government of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) only two months before the general elections. Since then the naming of the new facility has been pending.
The PML-N Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi had left the issue open for debate after rejecting three names “Liaquat Ali Khan International Airport,” “Fatima Jinnah International Airport,” and “Gandhara International Airport.”
Reportedly Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) MNAs Dr. Mehreen Bhutto, Nawabzada Iftikhar and Naz Baloch presented the resolution in the National Assembly demanding to change the IIAP’s name to Shaheed Benazir International Airport.
The resolution read that the previous government changed the name on the basis of bias and political enmity. Also, the nation cannot forget the Bhutto family’s sacrifices for democracy, and in the framing of the country’s constitution, it added.
Moreover, MQM-P member Kishore Zahra opposing the resolution said that as a woman leader Benazir Bhutto is highly respectable to each of us. However, they had requested renaming Islamabad International Airport after Liaqat Ali Khan.