Although not in such a state of complete dilapidation as the Bradlaugh Hall, it is by no means in a shape that befittingly projects its centrality to the movement. We realised that encroachments had been taking place from both sides

The paramount importance of Lahore to the anti-colonial freedom struggle cannot be overemphasised even though Punjab was the most loyal province of British India. This was a topic on which the three of us, class fellows from St Anthony’s High School, Lahore, who last sat on the same benches 52 years ago, Ambassador Toheed Ahmad, former MPA from Gujrat Syed Ali Haroon Shah and I exchanged views as we headed towards Gujrat University on March 10 where I was to deliver a lecture on the partition. The partition lecture series had been initiated by Ambassador Toheed Ahmad. Gujrat University is a most valuable addition as a seat of higher learning in Pakistan. Vice Chancellor Dr Nizamuddin has worked very hard to make the university maintain its high standards.

The most important follow-up to the visit to Gujrat University was the three of us getting up early morning on Sunday, March 15 to visit two landmarks of the freedom struggle – the Bradlaugh Hall and the Barkat Ali Islamia Hall. We first visited Bradlaugh Hall. It is located on Rattigan Road, next to the University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences today. It is in a state of complete neglect and a huge padlock at the entrance announces its inaccessibility to the public. This is ironic and tragic because it was from here that many revolutionary anti-colonial struggles were launched against British rule. I believe when the Congress Party launched the movement for a free India it was from Bradlaugh Hall that the process started. This happened on December 19, 1929.

Haroon Rashid has written a very readable sketch on Bradlaugh Hall. It is hosted on the Lahore Nama. We learn that Bhagat Singh, Lala Lajpat Rai, Jawaharlal Nehru, Maulana Zafar Ali Khan, Dr Muhammad Ashraf, Mian Ifthikharuddin, Dr Saifuddin Kitchlew and many other stalwarts of the freedom struggle conducted their activities from the Bradlaugh Hall. However, the most fascinating feature about the hall is its origin. Charles Bradlaugh, an English parliamentarian, was a great champion of the freedom of India. He created a sensation in his own time by refusing to take an oath on the Bible to take his seat in parliament. He arrived in India at the end of the 19th century where he was involved in supplying railway tracks. He had purchased land in Lahore’s fashionable Rattigan Road where many Englishmen had their bungalows. The British government found his sympathy for the Indians unacceptable and cancelled his contracts and ordered him to leave India. He bought a boat, stocked food and anchored the boat on the bank of the Ravi. His contestation was that, since he was not on Indian ‘land’, therefore he was not disobeying the state. He was later forced to leave. However, he continued to mobilise public opinion in the UK against colonial rule. The Hall was finally inaugurated by Congress President Surinder Nath Banerjee in 1900.

The second historic building associated with the politics of pre-partition Punjab is the Barkat Ali Islamia Hall located on the Circular Road near Mochi Gate. It is associated with the Muslim separatist movement where the idea of Pakistan was discussed and debated with great enthusiasm. It is named after Malik Barkat Ali who belonged to a prominent Kakezai family from inside the Walled City of Lahore. Malik Barkat Ali was one of the two Muslim Leaguers who were elected to the Punjab Assembly in 1937. The other member, Raja Ghazanfar Ali Khan, crossed the floor and joined the Punjab Unionist Party. All other Muslim reserved seats were won by the Punjab Unionist Party. Malik Barkat Ali died on April 5, 1946.

After the Lahore Resolution was passed in March 1940, the Barkat Ali Islamia Hall was often the rallying point for Muslim League mass gatherings as the famous Mochi Gate ground, where most of the public meetings were held, was just across the road. Here, too, we could easily see a lack of attention from the authorities.Although not in such a state of complete dilapidation as the Bradlaugh Hall, it is by no means in a shape that befittingly projects its centrality to the movement. We realised that encroachments had been taking place from both sides and only the front of the Hall facing the Circular Road has been left open. 
Breakfast for us followed thereafter at Food Street in Gawalmandi. We discussed the importance of these two places and the need to preserve them as part of our history. Although both were identified with diametrically opposite ideas of freedom – the one led by the Indian National Congress, demanding freedom of all Indians from the British yoke, and the other a separate state for Indian Muslims, they nevertheless originated from the same original urge of 1857 to liberate India from foreign rule.

One would have expected that the Barkat Ali Islamia Hall wouldbe given special attention but alas that was not the case. I told Toheed and Haroon Shah that in India historical places are taken very good care of and that most historical landmarks are from the Sultanate and Mughal periods. Toheed told us that someone in Chandigarh was trying to replicate Bradlaugh Hall since nobody took care of it in Lahore. That we thought was tragic. Who knows, one day the ruling elites of India and Pakistan may realise that they have a lot more to gain from peace and friendship than from wasteful confrontation. When that happens, a historic procession starting from Bradlaugh Hall to Barkat Ali Islamia Hall or vice versa could be the best way to herald an era of peace and friendship.

• April 29, 2014