Source:the Hindu
We compliment the leaders of Pakistan on renaming Shadman Chowk in
Lahore as Bhagat Singh Chowk. This gesture will greatly strengthen the
India-Pakistan peace process.
Pakistan civil and political groups had long demanded the renaming
of the Chowk. It was once the execution ground of Central Jail, Lahore and the
spot where Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev were hanged on March 23, 1931.
In 1961, the jail was demolished to make way for a residential
area called Shadman colony; Shadman Chowk was built over the execution
ground.
We — civil society activists from both India and Pakistan — held
candlelight vigils at this location every year on the anniversary of the
execution. Many times, we renamed it ourselves, with a signboard proclaiming it
as “Bhagat Singh Chowk.”
We also took our demand to Pakistan’s political leaders. Former
Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, whose party rules Pakistan’s Punjab
province, gave us hope that our demand would be met. We are happy that the hope
was fulfilled, and that too on the special day of Bhagat Singh’s 105th birth
anniversary.
This year too for the first time, Bhagat Singh’s birth anniversary
was celebrated at Dyal Singh College hall in Lahore on September 28 by the
Pakistan Labour Party, and 23 more organisations. Speakers described Bhagat
Singh as the representative of the struggling masses in all of Asia. The
organisers also demanded the setting up of a museum at Bhagat Singh’s birthplace
in Chak no. 105, Lyallpur Bange in Faislabad district.
Advocate Iqbal Virk, who is now the occupant of the house in which
he was born, participated in the function and offered all cooperation.
It was unfortunate that a 27-member Indian delegation, which
included Bhagat Singh’s nephew Kiranjit Sandhu, and the author of several books
on the martyr, Prof. Chaman Lal, could not attend the jointly planned
anniversary as they were not issued visas. But the subsequent news of the
renaming of the Chowk has more than compensated for that.
Signatories:
Kuldip Nayar, journalist, diplomat and author of Without
Fear, a book on Bhagat Singh; Justice (retd.) Rajinder Sachar; Chaman Lal,
professor, JNU and editor/author of documents and several other books on Bhagat
Singh; Activists from Hind-Pak Dosti Manch, Pakistan-India People’s Forum for
Peace and Democracy (PIPFPD) and members of Bhagat Singh’s family.
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