In a subcontinent where petty politics often creates divisions, a sardonic line ascribed to American author Clare Boothe Luce—“No good deed goes unpunished”—gets reaffirmed every now and then. Not long after the Lahore Authority for Heritage Revival proposed reverting to the old Hindu and Sikh names of some of the city’s historic localities, the authorities have put the move on ice. While proposing that names like Islampura be rolled back to Krishan Nagar and Mustafabad be renamed Dharampura, former PM Nawaz Sharif, who presides over LAHR, had wanted to invoke the cultural capital’s rich multi-ethnic legacy. But perhaps like the divisive politicians of India, their Pakistani counterparts deemed it too harmonious a move. As a result, citizens remain impoverished of their own history on both sides of the border.