Pak NGO installs plaques to pay tribute to Lajpat Rai, Amrita Pritam and other legends of Lahore

Lahore Sangat plans to install over 140 such plaques

Photo: Lahore Sangat/Facebook

Lahore, October 10

A non-governmental organisation in Pakistan has started installing the plaques of some 140 ‘extra-ordinary people’ like freedom fighter Lala Lajpat Rai, novelist Amrita Pritam and Maharaj Ghulam Hussain Kathak at the places associated with them in different vicinities of Lahore to pay tribute to them.

Lahore remembers its erstwhile residents who migrated to India by installing plaques

The project named as ‘Lahore remember and honour its citizen who migrated to India’ though was started in March but was put on hold due to Covid restrictions when only 10 plaques were installed and now has been restarted with the cooperation of Punjab government and so far 121 famous erstwhile residents of Lahore have been identified.

The plaques have been written in English and Urdu mentioning smaller details like the time period of when they lived in Lahore and more plaques will be installed as the list evolves, says Sangat member Qasim Jafri from Lahore.
Punjabi poet and novelist Amrita Pritam, philanthropist Dyal Singh Majithia, freedom fighter Lala Lajpat Rai, singer Mohammad Rafi and many more have been recognised by the plaques that are being put.
The plaque of Lala Lajpat Rai has been installed at the gate of Gol Bagh, plaque of Amrita Pritam installed at Dhani Ram Street, Anarkali, plaque of Maharaj Ghulam Hussain Kathak installed at Dehli Muslim hotel, Anarkali. Plaque of the name of Bhai Ram Singh has been put on the boundary wall of Lahore museum and National college of arts.

Meanwhile, deputy commissioner/land acquisition collector of Peshawar in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has issued acquisition notification under section 4 for acquiring the house in Peshawar city for protection of ancient house and preserve it as a museum in phased manner.
It has been mentioned in the notification that the land/house is likely to be taken by the government on public expenses for public purpose for acquisition of land/house for protection of ancient house of Dalip Kumar Mohalla Khudadad Qissa Khwani district Peshawar.

The Lahore Sangat, which is working to remember and pay tribute to outstanding personalities, has installed a total 20 plaques of such people so far by mapping where they lived and worked and putting up distinctive blue enamel plaques in their memory. It has a plan to install over 140 plaques of such people. 

The plaques of Lajpat Rai, Amrita Pritam and Maharaj Ghulam Hussain Kathak were installed at the gate of Gol Bagh (Nasser Bagh), Dhani Ram Street, Anarkali and Dehli Muslim Hotel, Anarkali, respectively in the cultural capital of Pakistan.

Lajpat Rai (1865–1928), popularly known as Punjab Kesari, was an Indian freedom fighter who played a pivotal role in the Indian Independence movement. Prof Molka (1917- 1994) was an artist and a pioneer of fine arts in Pakistan after its independence in 1947.

Amrita Pritam (1919–2005) was an Indian novelist who wrote in Punjabi and Hindi. She is considered the first prominent female Punjabi poet, novelist, essayist and the leading 20th-century poet of the Punjabi language, who is equally loved on both sides of the border. Maharaj Ghulam Hussain Kathak (1905–2001) was a classical dancer and teacher.

This week, the Sangat installed plaques of Prof Anna Molka at the Punjab University Old Campus and Bhai Ram Singh at the Boundary Wall of Lahore Museum & National College of Arts here.

Earlier, plaques were installed within the Walled City of Lahore, honouring luminaries including Hafeez Jalundhri, Gama Pehlwan, Bare Ghulam Ali, Abdul Rahman Chughtai, Nur Jahan and Allama Muhammad Iqbal.  

“We want to remember some of the outstanding people of this region by installing their plaques so that people in general and students in particular could read about them to get inspiration,” said Dr Ajaz Anwar, a distinguished painter of Pakistan.

The Lahore Sangat has listed down outstanding painters, writers, poets, architects, craftsmen, storytellers, actors, scholars, revolutionaries, philosophers, jurists, cooks, weavers, embroiderers, doctors, saints, mystics, musicians, singers, freedom fighters, dancers, sportsmen, travellers and journalists.