Pak court dismisses plea to rename Lahore chowk after Bhagat Singh

A Pakistani court on Friday dismissed a petition seeking to rename Shadman Chowk here after independence war hero Bhagat Singh and place his statue there.

"Lahore High Court Judge Shams Mehmood Mirza today disposed of a petition of Bhagat Singh Memorial Foundation, Pakistan, seeking renaming of Shadman Chowk, Lahore, after Bhagat Singh and placing his statue where he was hanged," a court official told PTI.

The judge after hearing arguments from counsel for the Metropolitan Corporation, Lahore, and the foundation dismissed the petition.

The foundation's chairman, Advocate Imtiaz Rasheed Qureshi, said it would challenge the LHC's decision in the Supreme Court.

Earlier, the corporation, which is a part of the district government of Lahore, had told the LHC that it had scrapped the proposed plan to name Shadman Chowk after Bhagat Singh and place his statue there where he was hanged 94 years ago.

"A proposed plan of the city district government, Lahore, to name Shadman Chowk, Lahore, after Bhagat Singh and place his statue there has been scrapped in light of an observation submitted by Commodore Tariq Majeed (retd)," the metropolitan corporation had said in the court in its written reply.