Lahore Chowk not to be named after Bhagat Singh, strange argument given in court

Bhagat Singh Chowk Lahore: Pakistan has ended the plan to name Lahore's Shadman Chowk after freedom fighter Bhagat Singh. Strange arguments have been given in the court of Pakistan behind this.

Shadman Chowk Lahore Bhagat Singh: The plan to rename Lahore's Shadman Chowk after Shaheed Bhagat Singh has now been ended by the Pakistan government. Nor will Bhagat Singh's statue be installed at the chowk now. The plan was scrapped after a retired army officer made remarks in the Lahore High Court (LHC). The Punjab government has said that Bhagat Singh was not a freedom fighter.

In today's definition, there were 'terrorists'

The Punjab government has even said in its reply in the High Court that Bhagat Singh was not a freedom fighter, but a terrorist in today's definition. Assistant Advocate General Asghar Leghari in the Lahore High Court had made serious allegations against the freedom fighter in a written reply on Friday.

Response to the petition

Imtiaz Rashid Qureshi, president of the Bhagat Singh Memorial Foundation Pakistan, had filed a contempt petition in the Lahore High Court. In response, the Lahore Metropolitan Corporation said: "The proposed plan of the Lahore city district government to name Shadman Chowk after Bhagat Singh and install his statue there has been cancelled in light of a comment submitted by Commodore (Retd) Tariq Majeed."

Bhagat Singh called a criminal

"Tariq Majeed in his comments claimed that Bhagat Singh was a criminal and in today's definition he was a terrorist, for the crime he had killed a British police officer and was hanged along with two of his accomplices," it said.

Based on his arguments, Majeed recommended to the government that Shadman Chowk should not be renamed as Bhagat Singh Chowk nor should his statue be installed there.

You can't name an atheist

This report further states that Bhagat Singh was "influenced by religious leaders having feelings hostile to Muslims. It is not acceptable in Pakistan to name a place after an atheist and Islam prohibits human idols. Therefore, it is wrong to rename the chowk and install a statue."

In the report, officials of Bhagat Singh Foundation were also surrounded and they have been described as working against Islamic ideology and Pakistani culture. There has also been a demand to ban this NGO.

Qureshi calls Bhagat Singh a great revolutionary

Qureshi, president of the Bhagat Singh Memorial Foundation, described Singh as an unquestionable great revolutionary, freedom fighter and martyr. "I will send a legal notice to retired Commodore Majeed for making serious allegations against Bhagat Singh Foundation and will oppose his stand on Bhagat Singh," he said.

On September 5, 2018, Shadman Chowk was asked to be named after Bhagat Singh, but the court order has not been implemented yet.