Plea to acquire Bhagat Singh case file from Lahore

New Delhi, September 13

Lamenting Pakistan’s reluctance to share with Indian scholars the Bhagat Singh case files kept in the archives in Lahore, Professor Chaman Lal, adviser, Bhagat Singh Archives and Resource Centre, Delhi Archives, urged Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to acquire a copy.

In a letter to Kejriwal on Monday, Chaman Lal, former chairperson, Centre for Indian language, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), wrote that when journalist Kuldip Nayar was alive, he had promised to talk to then Chief Minister of West Punjab Shahbaz Sharif and try to make the Bhagat Singh files accessible to Indian researchers. The idea could not materialise because of the sudden deterioration in India-Pakistan relations at that time.

“However, situation has now changed for the better. On March 23, 2018, for the first time Lahore archives held a month-long exhibition of more than 200 items from the Bhagat Singh files. There was a plan to digitalise these files,” Chaman Lal wrote, and urged Kejriwal to immediately set in motion official correspondence with the Punjab Government, Lahore. — TNS