Pakistan and India do not see eye to eye. They have fought wars and have often breathed fire against one another, however one man is trying to atleast do something that could prove to be a bridge in an ever increasing gap between the two.
On 27th September 2017, India celebrated Bhagat Singh’s 110th birth anniversary. A diehard fan of the motherland and a true patriot, Bhagat Singh embodied charisma, valour and had a never say die revolutionary spirit, whose rebellion against the British earned him the title of hero of the Indian independence movement.
Despite his contribution to Indian freedom movement, he is not regarded as a martyr in the government documents.
86 years after his sentencing, Pakistan’s Imtiyaz Rashid Qureshi of the Bhagat Singh Memorial Foundation is doing his bit to ensure Bhagat Singh gets a clean chit in the Lahore conspiracy by way of reopening the case.
Qureshi filed a plea in Lahore High Court to prove his innocence.
While the division bench of the Lahore High Court asked the chief justice of Pakistan to assign a larger bench, no action has been taken yet.
Imtiyaz Rashid Qureshi, Indian Express
Qureshi mentions Bhagat Singh was a freedom fighter and he fought for the independence of undivided India.
He says the British must apologize for killing three of India and Pakistan’s heroes.
Bhagat Singh and his associate Shivaram Rajguru, was accused to have shot a 21-year-old British police officer, John Saunders in Lahore. They mistook Saunders for James Scott responsible for the death of popular Indian nationalist leader Lala Lajpat Rai.
It has now emerged Bhagat Singh’s conviction was pronounced by a court that did not have approval of legislature for its constitution. The death warrant issued for Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru was illegal. And, the trial violated principle of natural justice.
The FIR had not named the “two unidentified” accused. Bhagat Singh was not named in the FIR as an accused or suspect.
The death warrant issued by the tribunal had expired before Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru were executed.
Qureshi is fighting to get the court set aside the ruling of the tribunal availing the right to review and restore honour to Bhagat Singh.
To authenticate his plea the petitioner has cited the FIR on Saunders’ killing which was registered with Anarkali police station in Lahore on December 17, 1928
He has submitted in the court that the tribunal constituted by the then Punjab governor did not give a fair opportunity to the defence and awarded the death penalty without hearing the 450 witnesses.
Unlike most Sikh children, Bhagat did not attend the Khalsa High School in Lahore. Bhagat was enrolled in the Dayanand Anglo-Vedic High School, an Arya Samaji institution.
In 1919, at 12, Bhagat visited the site of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre hours after thousands of unarmed people gathered at a public meeting had been killed. He had completely lost trust on the Gandhian principles. He pushed for a violent overthrowing of the British.
In 1927, Bhagat Singh left home for Kanpur when his parents tried to get him married.
A Sikh by birth, he shaved his beard and cut his hair to avoid being recognised and arrested by Britishers.
Bhagat Singh made news when he went on a 116-day hunger strike to protest discrimination in treatment with prisoners of India and foreigners.
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