A petition was filed in a Pakistani court on Thursday seeking direction to the Punjab government to allow an event on the occasion of the 90th death anniversary of freedom fighters Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev on March 23 in this city and provide fool-proof security to it.
The Bhagat Singh Memorial Foundation’s chairman, Imtiaz Rashid Qureshi, filed the petition in the Lahore High Court after the provincial government refused to hold an event on the occasion, citing the Covid-19 pandemic.
Singh was hanged along with his comrades - Rajguru and Sukhdev - by British rulers on March 23, 1931 at the age of 23 in Lahore, after being tried under charges for hatching a conspiracy against the colonial government and allegedly killing British police officer John P Saunders.
Qureshi said he moved the petition seeking permission to hold an event at the Shadman Chowk to pay tribute to these freedom fighters. He also sought fool-proof security for the event. He told the court that COVID-19 guidelines will be strictly observed during the event.
He made the Punjab government, Punjab chief secretary and home secretary, Inspector General Police and Lahore police chief respondents. Qureshi said that the government should not have refused to hold this event on the pretext of coronavirus pandemic. “The government should rather encourage such events as they give a peace message across the border,” Qureshi told PTI.
{{/usCountry}}He made the Punjab government, Punjab chief secretary and home secretary, Inspector General Police and Lahore police chief respondents. Qureshi said that the government should not have refused to hold this event on the pretext of coronavirus pandemic. “The government should rather encourage such events as they give a peace message across the border,” Qureshi told PTI.
{{/usCountry}}He added that his foundation plans to install a plaque of Singh at Shadman Chowk where he was hanged 90 years ago. The foundation earlier in its resolution had demanded apology from the British Queen on the judicial murder of the three freedom fighters and compensation to their families. It also demanded the Imran Khan government name Shadman Chowk after Bhagat Singh. The resolution further demanded naming of a major road in Lahore after the three revolutionaries and their act of chivalry also be made part of school syllabus. It also demanded the British Queen to apologise from the families of the victims of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre (1919). It also demanded installation of a statue of Bhagat Singh at Shadman Chowk.