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Afghanistan has asked the Pakistani military to stop naming its nuclear missiles after the heroes of Afghan history.

Information Minister Sayed Makhdum Rahin said he had sent a letter to Islamabad requesting they avoid naming weapons after Afghanistan's rulers and emperors.

"Their names should be bracketed with academic, cultural and peace-promoting institutions, not with tools of destruction and killing," he said.

"World-famous Afghans, like (Mahmud) Ghaznawi, (Ahmad Shah) Abdali and (Shahabuddin) Ghauri, had spread knowledge and civilisation from Afghanistan to the subcontinent of India," he added.

The Ghaznawi, Abdali and Ghauri missiles - capable of carrying nuclear warheads - were developed by Pakistan to counter the threat posed by its arch-rival India's nuclear arsenal.

The missiles are a source of huge national pride in Pakistan, which named them after Muslim conquerors who defeated Hindu rulers and governed parts of what is now Afghanistan, Pakistan and India.

'Interference'

Only last week its nuclear weapons programme tested the short range surface-to-surface ballistic missile, the Haft-II Abdali, named after the founder of the powerful Durrani dynasty, which helped shape modern Afghanistan.

The Ghauri missile, designed to threaten major cities across India, is named after Mohammed Ghauri, who in 1192 defeated a Rajput Hindu king near to where the Pakistan-India border now runs.

The Ghaznavid missile is named after Mahmud Ghaznavi, who was never defeated on the battlefield, and conquered Punjab in 1021. Pakistan has refused to comment.

Rahin said Pakistan was welcome to use the names for peaceful things like monuments and conference rooms.

Many Afghans believe Pakistan interferes too much in its internal affairs.

Relations have been damaged by the presence of Taleban and al-Qaeda-led militants in the Pashtun tribal areas on both sides of the border.

Last week Afghan President Hamid Karzai visited Islamabad to urge Pakistan do more to crack down on the militants.

BBC

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Picked up this link from BR. This is so funny.I mean the Pakistanis are so proud of Ghaznawi and Ghauri that they name their missiles after them, but the Afghans arent amused,telling them to find their own heroes.

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Diplomacy is the art of saying 'Nice doggie!'...till you can find a rock. ;)

Hari_Om

Hammer,

Pakistan’s borrowed hero’s, borrowed heroic exploits syndrome has always puzzled me. .

The syndrome is certainly widespread and not just limited to naming missiles. There we certainly have grounds for the Afghan's being peeved given that we have the Ghauri missile named after an Afghan born Turko-Persian Mohammed Ghor and Ghaznavi missile after a Afghan born Turk, Mahmud of Ghazni.

Go through the official Pakistan Navy website page on the Type 21.

Among the details the page gives, is an explanation on the significance of the ship’s names.

I was rather surprised to note that almost all the ships have been named after either individuals or events that are not linked to Pakistan (ie : where individuals, they were neither born or principally based within the present territorial confines of Pakistan; where events, once again the events were not located within the present territorial confines of Pakistan.,)

Thus the first ship (in the order named in the page) was named after an Arab (PNS Tariq/Tariq bin Zayed), the second after an individual born in Southern India (PNS Tipu/Tipu Sultan) and one who never set in foot within the present territorial confines of Pakistan, the third after an individual born in Uzbekistan who headquartered himself in India (PNS Babur/Babur), the fourth after a Saudi Arabian battle (PNS Khaibar/ Battle of Khaibar), and the sixth once again after a Saudi Arabian battle (PNS Badr/ Battle of Badr).

Surely there cannot be a problem of trying to find heroic individuals born within the present territorial confines of Pakistan.or for that matter heroic events ?

I can immediately think of a heroic individual born within the present territorial confines of Pakistan, namely Maharaja Ranjit Singh.

Neo

They are as much part of our history as theirs so who care what they have to say

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Administrator @ Defence.pk

Tronic

lol, i dun think u have much of a history.... cuz before 1947, u were part of Indian history...

Neo

How very typical Indian to deny us our own history!

Dude, eventhough Pakistan was part of British India before 1947 and numerous empires before that, all historical events that took place on Pakistani soil become part of our history, our inheritage and we're proud if it and no least ashamed to share it with our indian brothers.

Thats the difference in mentality, often hard to maintain when you're on the other side

Samudra

Hmmm, while the geographic area that is called Pakistan today does have a history...one should remember if it is not being respected enough in Pakistan today

Its Islam all the way.
I think I have vented my disgust at the attitude so many times on this forum already....So I shall keep quiet for a while now.

hammer

The Afghans don't seem to think so.

hammer

You are one of the miniscule minority of Pakistanis who thinks along these lines.

hammer

Hari,
Maybe if someone can travel back in time and convert Maharaja Ranjit singh to Mohammed Rashid sulayman, he will be a national hero in seconds. .

But seriously, if they had that sort of understanding towards our common history and culture,there wouldnt be any hostility between us to begin with.

sparten

Afghans can go ***** themselves (oh I forgot they do that already).
Its our decision if we wish to name it after an Afghan warlord or muslim or Greco Buddhist or whoever.
The US should change the name of its Thor IRBM's Nordic gods not theirs?
Or the Jupiter ones, Italian or Roman not theirs.

Instead it should be crazy horse IRBM

Makes just as much sence.

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"Any relations in a social order will endure if there is infused into them some of that spirit of human sympathy, which qualifies life for immortality." ~ George William Russell

Neo

??

Thanks!

hammer

Yeah they should.They had allowed their neighbors to screw them for so long. I too think its time they screw themselves.

Maybe they should wait till some Nordic,Greek or Italian govt complains about American weapons being named after their heroes or Gods ?

Neo

Like I said, who cares what they think!
When Afghans invaded territories that are in Pakistan today and reigned it for decades, they became part of our history.

Like I've stated before, naming of missiles after those hero's is an effictive political game to piss off Indians and therefor very sellectively chosen.

For example, Indian missile 'Prithvi' was testfired before Pakistani "Ghori'

Read the history between Gori and Prithviraj;
The irony of the matter is that India still has numerical advantage over Pakistan, so the paralell with the history is very interesting and quite amusing if you're a Pakistani

Neo

Please elaborate...

hammer

ROFL! Thats the funniest part. When the first Indian missile was named Prithvi , the Pakistanis thought that we named the missile after the King Prithviraj Chauhan , while it actually meant "Earth". . Hence the other Indian missiles were named as Akash (sky)and Agni(fire).

We need more Pakistanis like you, still living in the past. . It sure helps us in the future.