History at Cross roads as Shaheed Bhagat Singh returns to Lahore today

History at Cross roads as Shaheed Bhagat Singh returns to Lahore today March 23, 2012

Shaheed Bhagat Singh

Today (23rd March) in 1931, at 7.30 pm three young men were hanged in the Lahore Jail.  they were to be hanged on the 24th, but their hanging was moved 11 hours earlier and in an unprecedented decision, hangings were done not in the morning but in the evening.  Shaheed Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev were hanged today.

The Home Secretary of Punjab had sent a telegram to Home Department in Delhi on 17th March, fixing the new date of the execution.  When the time came for execution, no magistrate was available to supervise the hangings.  At that time, Honorary Magistrate of Kasur, Nawab Muhammad Ahmad Khan Kasuri not only witnessed the execution but also signed their Death Warrant as the original warrants had expired.

After their death, the three were cremated behind the jail on the banks of Sutlej by breaking the rear wall of the Jail outside the Ganda Singh Wala Village.  To read more about the story after the hanging and a personal connection/memoir about what happened to Bhagat Singh, Rajguru, and Sukhdev’s bodies, please read “Martyrdom of Bhagat Singh, Rajguru, and Sukhdev and what happened after their hangings?

Magistrate of Kasur, Nawab Muhammad Ahmad Khan also witnessed the cremation.

Grave of Nawab Muhammad Ahmed Khan Kasuri (courtesy mr7575675)

In 1974, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto had a terrible showdown on the floor of the Parliament in Pakistan with Ahmad Raza Kasuri, son of the ex-Magistrate of Kasur, Nawab Muhammad Ahmad Khan.  Bhutto shouted “I had enough of you: absolute poison. I will not tolerate your nuisance.”

On November 11, 1974, after one unsuccessful attempt at his life in Islamabad earlier that year in August – Ahmad Raza’s car was ambushed.  30 rounds were fired at a carefully selected road junction.  Nawab Muhammad Ahmad Khan was shot badly and died at 2.55 in United Christian Hospital.

The shooting happened near Shadman Colony.  At this very place back in 1931 used to be the “Phansighat”, where hanging of Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, and Rajguru took place.

Bhagat Singh Returns to Lahore

Bhagat Singh Foundation of Pakistan President, Abdullah Malik said of how Bhagat Singh will make a return to Lahore today this year:

“Punjab chief minister Shahbaz Sharief’s spokesman and senator Parvez Rashid during a meeting with members of the Bhagat Singh Foundation of Pakistan recently assured that a bill to name the chowk after Bhagat Singh will be passed in the House.”

Shadman Chowk (cross-road) in Lahore today will be officially named as the Shaheed Bhagat Singh Chowk.  The very place where Shaheed Bhagat Singh was hanged and where the person who signed and witnessed his execution and was present at his cremation was also shot dead.

 

Reference Links

Summary of Bhutto case.

Grave of Nawab Muhammad Ahmad Khan

“Bhagat Singh Chowk to become official in Lahore”

 


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