The show-down over the renaming of the Shadman’s Fawara Chowk to Bhagat Singh Chowk is becoming more precarious by each passing day, as the City District Government Lahore (CDGL)’s effort to procure an early hearing in the writ before the Lahore High Court (LHC) has been thwarted yet again, Pakistan Today has learnt.
The tussle over the name began after the sub-committee of the Dilkash Lahore Project recommended that the chowk be re-named Bhagat Singh Chowk, in the memory of the freedom fighter who was executed by the British rulers at the location.
A member of Tehreek-e-Hurmat-e-Rasool and Shadman Trader’s Union President Zahid Butt challenged the renaming of Fawara Chowk to Bhagat Singh Chowk in the LHC. His petition claimed that government had succumbed to the pressure of human rights associations. Earlier, the court issued a stay order against the renaming and further proceedings were being delayed by the petitioners, sources claimed.
As many as 25 other roads, intersections and underpasses were also re-named under the Dilkash Lahore Project, however no opposition was faced anywhere else. According to CDGL officials, five clerics were part of the said committee and no one raised any objections. They added that honoring members of the minority, especially those who played a significant role in the Independence Movement could not possibly be against the ‘national interest’ in any conceivable way.
