‘Bhagat Singh Chowk’: Lahore High Court restrains CDGL from issuing notification

"Residents of the area have put up banners opposing the name approved by the committee," says petitioner's counsel.


Our Correspondent November 17, 2012

LAHORE:


Justice Nasir Saeed Sheikh of the Lahore High Court on Friday restrained the city district government Lahore (CDGL) from notifying a recommendation that the Shadman Chowk be renamed after Bhagat Singh.

On November 14, the Dilkash Lahore Committee – consisting of prominent architects, writers, artists and administrators – had approved the renaming of the Fawwara Chowk after Bhagat Singh to acknowledge Singh’s struggle for freedom from British rule. Singh was hanged by the British at the same spot almost a century ago. The committee had also approved renaming the Doctors’ Hospital underpass after Chaudhry Rehmat Ali.


The judge also sought a reply from the CDGL by November 28 on the petition that has been moved by Zahid Butt, a member of Tehreek-i-Hurmat-i-Rasool (pbuh).  Petitioner’s counsel Aftab Ahmad Bajwa submitted that the CDGL had earlier decided to name Shadman Chowk after Chaudhry Rehmat Ali but the government had changed its mind. He said that the Bhagat Singh Foundation “with active connivance of other so-called human rights organisations [had] pressured” the CDGL to rename the chowk after Bhagat Singh. Bajwa said his client had approached the CDGL to rename the chowk after Chaudhry Rehmat Ali. The city district government had referred the matter to the Dilkash Lahore Committee. He said the petitioner had then come to know that the committee had decided to name the chowk after Bhagat Singh. Bajwa said his client had again approached the CDGL to record his reservations about the approved name but his objections had gone unheard. He said that the CDGL had not paid any heed to the petitioner’s suggestion that the chowk be named after the man who gave Pakistan its name. The counsel told the court that residents of the area had put up banners opposing the name approved by the committee.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 17th, 2012.

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