Lahore's crossing to be named after Bhagat Singh

If all goes well, the city roundabout in Lahore where Shaheed Bhagat Singh was hanged would soon be named after the martyr as the state administration of West Punjab has signed an order to this effect.

Lahore's district coordination officer Noorul Amin Mengal has directed the local city administration officials to rename Shadman Chowk (roundabout) as Bhagat Singh Chowk, reported the Dawn.

Institute for Peace and Secular Studies (IPSS) chairperson Shaida Diep told HT from Lahore that this was the organisation's one of the two demands that has been met and needed to be implemented.

"We got the orders on Saturday and now look forward to installing a statue or a plaque of Bhagat Singh at the roundabout if the administration agrees," said Diep, the rights activist and writer who has been bringing youth delegations to India in the past.

The other demand of the peace activists was to convert the deserted age-old Bradley Hall School building in that city as Shaheed Bhagat Singh memorial, she said.

Various civil and political groups in Pakistani Punjab have been demanding the renaming of Shadman
Chowk, the location where Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev were hanged on March 23, 1931, it being the execution ground of Central Jail Lahore at that time. In 1961, the jail was demolished and a new colony, Shadman Colony, set up and at the execution ground Shadman Chowk was built.

Civil society activists from both countries have been holding a candle march at this site on every 23rd March and on many occasions themselves put up the signboard 'Bhagat Singh Chowk', said historian and Indo-Pakistan peace activist Prof Chaman Lal of Jawaharlal Nehru University.

He welcomed the Lahore administration's step saying this was the long-standing demand of the people on both sides of the border.