Bhagat Singh Memorial Committee formed in Lahore
A meeting held in Lahore on 16 August, 2012, resolved to establish the Bhagat Singh Memorial
Committee to celebrate the birth and martyrdom days of the great hero of the Indian anti-colonial
struggle. The aim of the committee is to reclaim the revolutionary socialist legacy of Bhagat Singh and
his comrades-in-arms, Sukhdev, Rajguru, Sohan Singh Josh, Chandarshekar Azad, Ajay Kumar Gosh,
Yashpal and others. The meeting was called by Labour Party Pakistan, and presided by Zahid Akaasi,
senior journalist and documentary film-maker. The meeting was attended by representatives of various
progressive trade unions and political and social organizations.
The meeting elected the following to the organizing committee:
Amir Suhail, Senior Vice President, Punjab Union of Journalists
Nasir Naqvi, President, All Pakistan Newspapers Employees Confederation (APNEC)
Comrade Irfan, Deputy Secretary General, Communist Mazdoor Kissan Party
Niaz Khan, Secretary General, National Trade Union Federation Punjab
Ammar Ali Jan, general secretary Labour Party Pakistan Lahore
Idrees Tabassum, Secretary General Pakistan India Peoples Forum for Peace and Democracy
Mirza Zain ul Abideen, Convener, Progressive Democratic Alliance Pakistan
Zahid Akaasi, Senior Journalist
Zafar Iqbal, Chairman, Movement for Democratic Pakistan
Shahzad Arshad, Revolutionary Socialist Movement
Sonia Qadir, member LPP Lahore
Yousaf Baloch, Chairman, National Trade Union Federation Pakistan
Khalid Malik, Director, Labour Education Foundation
Saeeda Diep, Director, Institute for Peace and Secular Studies
The meeting agreed to expand the committee if more organizations and individuals will be interested to
join it.
Narrating the history of Bhagat Singh’s struggle against British imperialism, participants recalled Bhagat
Singh’s key contributions to the Indian revolutionary movement:
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He admitted his tactical mistakes (individual acts of terror) and encouraged Indians to
strengthen the mass movement for independence from imperial rule and the capitalist system
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His pioneering use of his trial as a platform from which to propagate his views on the need for a
revolutionary struggle to free Indians from the yoke of imperialism
The long hunger strike that he and his comrades undertook to demand fair treatment of
prisoners
Participants condemned the limiting of Bhagat Singh’s legacy just to a symbol of Pakistan-India
friendship and peace, or to Indian nationalism or to Sikh nationalism, and resolved to do their
utmost to celebrate the entire spectrum of Bhagat Singh’s thought and praxis: not just the idea of an
Indian confederation, but also his struggle for the liberation of the oppressed classes of society
which led him to challenge the feudal lords, the nascent Indian bourgeoisie as well as the British Raj.
The meeting resolved to celebrate the upcoming birthday of Bhagat Singh on 28th September in
Lahore and on 29th September in his native village, Bangha, Chak # 107, Tehsil Jaranwala, District
Faisalabad.
The meeting resolved to a rousing welcome for the Indian delegate to the celebration and decided
to hold two days deliberations with seminar, cultural evening, welcome in Faisalabad (Lyallpur) and
a visit to Bhagat village in Tehseel Jaranwala.
The meeting was addressed by Farooq Tariq, Ammar Ali jan, Yousaf Baluch, Irfan Comrade, Mirza
Zainulabdin, Khalid Malik, Zafar Iqbal and others.