LAHORE: A plan of the city district government to rename Fawara Chowk Shadman after ‘freedom fighter’ Bhagat Singh was scrapped in light of an opinion rendered by a veteran, reveal official documents submitted to the Lahore High Court (LHC).

A report of the Metropolitan Corporation of Lahore states that a meeting of Dilkash Lahore Committee on Dec 5, 2012 decided to rename roads, chowks and underpasses in the city including the renaming of Fawara Chowk Shadman as Bhagat Singh Chowk.

An advertisement on behalf of the government was also published in newspapers seeking suggestions and objections from the public.

The report says the government received objections against the renaming and an NGO, Bhagat Singh Memorial Foundation, filed a writ petition in the LHC to change the name of the Shadman Chowk.

Official documents submitted to court rely on armed forces veteran’s objections

The court on Sept 5, 2018 directed the government to decide an application of the NGO in accordance with the law.

The documents show that retired Commodore Tariq Majeed, in the wake of the court’s case, filed an ‘awareness’ brief with the government declaring the story of Bhagat Singh a forged one, and demanding that the Shadman Chowk must not be named as Bhagat Singh Chowk.

The veteran also accused the NGO of hatching a sinister scheme by building ‘fake’ propaganda to portray Bhagat Singh as a revolutionary and freedom fighter. He claimed that Bhagat Singh had no role in the subcontinent’s freedom struggle.

He said Singh was not a revolutionary, but a criminal as he killed a British police officer and for this crime he (Singh) and his two accomplices were hanged.

Commodore Majeed claimed that Bhagat Singh was an alien to Pakistan and an enemy of its Islamic ideology.

Commenting on the LHC proceedings, he said had the court sought details of Bhagat Singh from the relevant officials, the petition by the NGO would have been thrown out.

He also urged the government to ban the Bhagat Singh Foundation allegedly for working against the ideology of Pakistan.

The reference of the retired army officer is attached with the documents filed before the LHC on Friday in response to a contempt petition filed by Imtiaz Rasheed Qureshi, the chairman of the foundation.

Justice Shams Mehmood Mirza adjourned the hearing of the contempt plea until Jan 17, 2025 due to the unavailability of the petitioner’s counsel.

The foundation’s chairman seeks contempt proceedings against the Punjab chief secretary for not complying with the 2018 direction of the LHC.

However, relying on the opinion of the veteran, the city district government asks the court to dismiss the contempt petition.

As per media reports, then district coordination officer Noorul Amin Mengal had in September 2012 also directed the city district government of Lahore to rename Shadman Chowk (roundabout) as Bhagat Singh Chowk.

Published in Dawn, November 10th, 2024