LAHORE: Political and right activists, intellectuals, students and people from other walks of life assembled at Fawara Chowk, Shadman, on Monday to commemorate 84th death anniversary of Bhagat Singh.

Bhagat Singh and his companions, Rajguru and Sukhdev, had been executed by the British Raj on March 23, 1931, at the location currently known as Fawara Chowk. He was 23 at the time of his execution.

Participants in the gathering paid a tribute to the struggle and ideas of the young revolutionary and reiterated their demand to rename the chowk as Bhagat Singh Chowk.

They argued that Bhagat Singh was a hero of the independence movement and was above religious affiliations and as a son of this soil he must be recognised by the Lahorites. They demanded all indigenous heroes and icons of the independence movement should be celebrated and their contributions should be acknowledged at the official level without any discrimination based on creed and race.

Indian intellectuals and peace activists Sardar Nanak Singh Nasher, Jetin Desai and Sataya Paul also addressed the participants.

Farooq Tariq, secretary general of the Awami Workers Party, Diep Saeeda, singer Taimur Rehman and Abdullah Malik also spoke as the gathering raised slogans against terrorism and Talibnisation.

The participants also lit candles to pay homage to Bhagat Singh.

Published in Dawn March 24th, 2015

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