Recognition of freedom movement martyrs urged

Activist from Canada calls for declaring Sher Ali Afridi, Bhagat Singh national heroes

LAHORE:

The Prof Mohan Singh Memorial Foundation of Canada (MSMF) has demanded that the Pakistan government declare those who laid down their lives in the independence movement as national martyrs.

Addressing a news conference on Tuesday, MSMF president Sahib Singh Thind urged the government to declare the early martyrs of the independence movement, Sher Ali Khan Afridi and Bhagat Singh, as national heroes through an act of parliament for their courage and resistance against colonial rule. He also called for erasing names linked with the British rule and teaching children the history about “our original heroes who sacrificed for their motherland”.

Prof Thind urged the Punjab government to rename the Mayo Hospital, which is named after a viceroy of British India, after Shaheed Sher Ali Khan Afridi who embraced martyrdom during the early days of the independence movement.

“The government should establish an Independence Movement Museum in the provincial capital to educate the youth about the services and struggles of our real heroes. Their struggle for independence of their motherland should be made part of the curriculum,” he added.

Prof Thind said the MSMF was working in several countries, including Canada, the United Kingdom and the US, to get justice over wrongdoings of the British rule.

He highlighted that the Canadian government had been forced to publicly apologise over the Komagata Maru incident in which a group of people from British-ruled India attempted to immigrate to Canada in April 1914, but most were denied entry and forced to return to Budge Budge in Kolkata, where the Indian Imperial Police attempted to arrest the group leaders. A riot and police firing ensued, resulting in the death of 22 people.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 15^th, 2023.