Honouring heroes
The struggle to create Pakistan was a two-pronged affair. Instead of viewing the movement solely through the lens of the Muslim League, we need to study and honour all those who sought to free us from colonial invaders. Certainly, without Mohammad Ali Jinnah, Pakistan would never have been created but without people like Bhagat Singh, Jinnah would never have had the opportunity to pressure the British. Singh was a man who was far ahead of his time, agitating for complete freedom from colonial rule at a time when the Indian National Congress was seeking incremental reforms. He was among the few who moved local politics in the direction of independence and for that, we should be thankful to this revolutionary, not bickering over his religious identity.
Our history did not begin and end with the formation of the Muslim League or even the invasion by Muhammad Bin Qasim. Lahore’s heritage is primarily shaped by non-Muslims and the city needs to recognise this simple and indisputable fact. Instead, we continue to name the country’s main cricket stadium after a disgraced, dead dictator who had the most tenuous of connections to Pakistan. Simply being a Muslim was enough for Muammar Gaddafi to be honoured in Lahore but someone with a deep connection to the city, who fought for its emancipation, will still be ignored.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 1st, 2012.
COMMENTS (15)
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@xon: Shahid Bhagat Singh was before the partition and perhaps he did not even know about the partition...he was not mine or his ... he was ours...thanks
@S K Afridi
I disagree. Aziz Bhatti and many others who served this country and are Muslim will always be honored in our society. The problem lies in the fact that we don't accept minorities of Non-Muslim faiths as well as Muslims who are non-Sunni as true Pakistanis. Bhagat Singh chowk is a symbol of our tolerance and respect for Pakistani Muslims and Non-Muslims. Bhagat Singh was a Punjabi who fought for Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims. Don't you forget that!
@Ali Naqvi: It is not the question of intolerance but the question of national pride. There are innumerable Pakistani heroes of our independence movement and also of our wars who have not been honoured the way Lahorites had planned to honour Bhagat Singh. Naming our roads and important crossings with the names of heroes who had offered sacrifices and rendered unforgettable services for the creation of Pakistan should take precedence over Bhagat Singh and others of his sort.
@gp65: Muslim league was not against British rule. It was rather worried about its future after British left the country. That is why they raised a slogan "Islam in danger". Jinnah's words have become true after 50 years. Mosques are not safe any more. Muslims are slaughtering each other and the minorities. While blasphemy is unknown in india, it is taking place everywhere according to Islamic zeolots.
That's sad. We should definitely push forward for the idea. After all, what wisdom is there to calling something a Fawara (fountain) chowk, when we can use a much better alternative such as mention of a hero.
@Murthy
Bhagat Singh would have been sanctified and canonized in any other country but in the land of the pure one has to be a killer to attain any status or to be honored. Qaddafi is probably referred to as Mohtaram Shahid Qadafi in Lahore and all his misdeeds are conveniently forgiven and forgotten because he was Muslim and spoke Arabic.
Pakistani Punjabis disregard their own cultural and linguistic roots and it is no wonder that Iqbal never wrote in Punjabi, he opted to write in Urdu and Farsi. The process of gentrification for an educated Punjabi begins with adopting Urdu for all formal usage and is further enhanced by learning English. Some would call this phenomenon an inferiority complex while others will call it class consciousness, either way you are denying your roots.
This renaming drama will never come to an end.Its not going to happen. We have enough Bhagat singh memorials.. As an atheist i don't think Bhagat singh would be too upset for not having a chowk named after him by a country created on religious grounds..
If Bhagat Singh is not to be honored in Pakistan, so be it. It matters little. But, I would like to tell people that he was far ahead of his time in his maturity and thinking. Let me quote just two anecdotes in the life of a man who showed the calm of a saint before being hanged to death by the British. When asked how he could be reading the night before his execution, he remarked that he didn't want to die a fool. When asked what his last wish was, he wanted to eat roti made by 'ma', by which he meant the 'untouchable' woman who removed night soil from his cell daily. He called the woman 'ma'(mother) because she did the same duty that his mother had done while he had been an infant.
@ET: Our Heros are our heros, their heros are their heros. I dont know how eagerly ET finds out anti-miniorities theme in every news. A man with some common sense would rather link it to Indo-Pak context rather than minorities. Instead of proposing Bhagat Singh why not propose a name that is more acceptable to me being a Pakistani e.g. Justic Rana Bhagwandas etc?
The real question is can Muslims honor an Atheist. Bhagat Singh was an atheist. Read his wiki. Let see if you can defend that.
@Go: Bhagat SIngh was not a Hindu either but he is a hero in India. HE was an atheist in case you are interested. Also fyi - while thousands of Congressmen went to jail; for months if not year - not one Muslim LEague member was jailed for even 1 day by the BRitish. Shows who was fighting the BRitish and who was supporting them.
I wonder if Bhagat Singh was an islamist ET would ever write this editorial ;)
We as Pakistanis and Lahoris must shove this intolerance away. How can we blame the west for being intolerant to Muslims when we are intolerant to those non-Muslims who contributed to Pakistan's history? I really hope they do go ahead with the change to rename Fawwara Chowk to Bhagat Singh Chowk. If this and Basant go away, I can't imagine what Lahore would look like in a few years.