The martyrdom of Bhagat Singh and the Pakistan National Day fall on the same date, March 23. But hardly does any one remember him in Pakistan. There is no arch, no plaque, not even a stone to commemorate the execution of Bhagat Singh and his two comrades, Sukhdev and Rajguru.
The Lahore Central jail, where the three revolutionaries were hanged on that day in 1931, has been practically demolished. Their cells have been razed to the ground as if the establishment does not want any sign of their hanging to remain. It is a pity because Bhagat Singh's sacrifice, long before partition, could have been a link of sorts between the two countries.
Three years ago, some of us located at Lahore the place where Bhagat Singh and his two comrades were hanged. Ironically, the locality, where the scaffold for hanging was put up, has been named Shadman (abode of happiness). I asked residents of the colony if they knew who Bhagat Singh was. Many of them had heard the name. Some had a vague idea of his confinement and hanging. "When we came here, there were only police quarters, which were pulled down as the colony expanded," said a man in his fifties. The then Lahore Deputy Commissioner had not even heard of Bhagat Singh's name.
Fortunately, the place of hanging is a bit removed from the main road. There is a pond which gives serenity to the site. We paid homage to the martyrdom of the three on March 24 to avoid the Pakistan National Day celebrations. The following year, we could not hold even a meeting because the authorities had clamped Section 144. The recurrent blasts at Lahore this year keep us away.
The busy roundabout, near which the scaffold for hanging was put up, has a story which is told and retold. This is the place where Nawaz Mohammad Ahmed Khan, father of Ahmed Raza Kasuri, then a member of Pakistan's National Assembly, was shot at. Former Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto had reportedly 'instructed someone' to kill Kasuri, a staunch opponent. When the bullets were fired through automatic weapons, Kasuri was negotiating the roundabout. His father, sitting next to him, received fatal injuries at the spot near the scaffold. Kasuri's grandfather was one of the officials who had identified the bodies of the three revolutionaries. Old timers believe that nemesis caught up with the Kasuri family when Mohammad Ahmed Khan was wounded at the roundabout. Ironically, Bhutto himself was hanged some 25 years ago.
Read the full article from The Sunday Times
Bhagat Singh: Is he merely a memory?
No comments:
Post a Comment