Bhagat Singh: LHC extends stay on renaming chowk

Petitioner alleges a strong Indian lobby was forcing the government to rename the chowk.


Our Correspondent November 28, 2012

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Wednesday extended a stay on renaming Chaudhry Rehmat Ali Chowk (Shadman Fawara Chowk) after Bhagat Singh as the city district government failed to submit its reply.

Justice Nasir Saeed Sheikh of the LHC also allowed two applications filed by social activists to become party to the case and directed the registrar office to fix the hearing of the applications on the next hearing of the main case.

Dr Taimur Rehman and Saeeda Diep had filed these applications through Advocate Yasir Latif Hamdani.

The judge adjourned the matter for three weeks.

A member of Tehreek-e-Hurmat-e-Rasool and president of Shadman trader’s union, Zahid Butt, had challenged the renaming of Shadman Fawara Chowk and the court had restrained the city district government from issuing an official notification in this regard during the last hearing.

It was alleged in the petition that the government succumbed to the pressure of ‘so-called’ human rights associations and decided to name the Chowk after Bhagat Singh.

The petitioner maintained that the government ignored reservations of the locals and established a committee named “Dilkash Lahore” to decide the name of the said chowk. The committee also decided on changing the name of the Chaudhry Rehmat Ali Chowk to Bhagat Singh Chowk and also published advertisements in newspapers, he said.

He further alleged that a strong Indian lobby and India-sponsored human rights activists were behind the whole episode and were forcing the government to change the name of the chowk.

He requested the court to stop the government from issuing a notification about changing the name of the chowk.

COMMENTS (30)

OurHero! | 11 years ago | Reply

Bhagat Singh is one of only a few of the national heroes Punjab has produced, which stopped after British took over.

Rehman Saiyed | 11 years ago | Reply

@afzaalkhan: Liberal Fascist? That term is an oxymoron in itself. It's hilarious to me that you would attack me personally because I have a different opinion than yours - that just shows me your level of intellect and your depth of thought. You are referring to the elections in 1937 and 1946 which occurred a long time after the independence movement had been spurred on by the likes of Bhagat Singh, Chandershekar Azad and Ashfaqullah Khan. When Bhagat Singh was giving up his life for the cause of his country, the two nation theory of Iqbal was less than three months old, and Jinnah was enjoying retirement from politics in London. Bhagat Singh was not a Sikh or Hindu and as an atheist his fight for his motherland was based on nationalism, and not on religion. The Pakistan movement came much later after Bhagat Singh's plight for the freedom from the British. Take your glasses of ignorance off and stop being so narrow minded.

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