The renaming of Lahore’s Fawara Chowk in the Shadman area after revolutionary freedom fighter Bhagat Singh got further delayed on Wednesday with the Lahore High Court extending a stay on the proposal by three weeks.
The stay was extended because the Punjab Government and the City District Government of Lahore failed to respond to a petition filed by Tehreek-Hurmat-e-Rasool against giving the roundabout a non-Islamic name.
Earlier this month, the court had stopped the Punjab Government from notifying a government-appointed committee’s recommendation to revert to Fawara Chowk’s pre-Partition name — Bhagat Singh Chowk.
While extending the stay, the court has agreed to hear an application filed by Saeeda Diep – one of the leading advocates of renaming the roundabout after Bhagat Singh – to be impleaded as a party to the case. Ms. Diep told The Hindu that she was also trying to get others favourably disposed to the move to implead themselves in the case to challenge the bid to sabotage this effort to give Bhagat Singh — a son of the soil — his due.
Also, Ms. Diep has questioned Tehrik-Hurmat-e-Rasool’s suggestion to rename the roundabout after Rehmat Ali, who in his writings had billed Pakistan’s founding father Muhammad Ali Jinnah as a ‘quisling’ and ‘traitor’.
Keywords: Lahore, Fawara Chowk, Bhagat Singh, High Court, Stay order
