Pak PM drops prefix 'Makhdoom' from his name

Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gillani has decided to drop the prefix 'Makhdoom' from his name, saying he wants to serve people and not be served by them.

Gillani said the honorific 'Makhdoom', which means 'one who is served', is no longer appropriate as he believes in serving the people.

"We are not Makhdooms (the served), but the khadims (servants) of the people," he said at the launch of a documentary film on Zulfikar Ali Bhutto on Tuesday.

Gillani said spiritual leaders were called Makhdooms for their service to religion. The premier is the descendant of a revered Sufi saint of Multan.

"But now there is no room for any Makhdoom so I make it obsolete from my nomenclature and would like to call myself Syed Yousuf Raza Gillani," he said.

Pakistan's new foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi too is a Makhdoom.