A Glorified Tyrant- Tale of Ranjit Singh: By Sharjeel Mazhar

(Disclaimer: The opinion expressed in this article is the author’s own, Pakistan News International does not take responsibility for its text, however if anyone wants to present a different point of view on this topic, these pages are available)

In 2021, a statue of a King placed outside Badshahi Mosque Lahore was vandalized by a person. This person was chanting religious slogans which made everyone clear that he is the supporter of religious extremist organization. He was arrested for vandalizing the statue. Although we see that people criticizes these types of incidents but in this case, many people supported him. And we should also do so because the King whose statue was vandalized was no other than Maharaja Ranjit Singh the so called Sher e Punjab. Governor Chaudhary Sarwar glorified him by calling him Sher e Punjab like there is only one man in history who could be called Sher e Punjab. Ranjit Singh has a lot of bad record. If we believe authentic history then we will come to know that he was not a good King, not a good Warrior and not even a good human. He was the only King of the history who ruled a Sikh empire. He should have followed principle of Humanity and love given by Guru Nanak Dev the founder of Sikhism but what he did was totally opposite. Now we will know that who he was?

Ranjit Singh was grandson of Charat Singh. Charat Singh was leader of guerilla groups who looted army of Ahmad Shah Abdali when the army was returning back to Kabul from Agra in 1757(ref Ahmad Shah Abdali by Qaiser Ali Agha pp 81 paragraph 2,3). The army of Charat Singh also looted and attacked Afghan army after battle of Panipat 3(pp 129 paragraph 4). The son of Charat Singh and father of Ranjit Singh Mahaan Singh used to do guerilla warfare with Afghan army. Ranjit Singh also had these traits which were proved later. He was born in 1780 and his one eye was wasted due to small pox. He became ruler of Lahore in 1799.

Now we have to know that how he became a King? Shah Zaman who was grandson of Ahmad Shah Abdali wanted to take back Punjab from Sikhs and merge it into Afghanistan. For this he invaded Lahore in 1798 and there he faced army of Ranjit Singh. Ranjit Singh called him and said ”the grandson of Charat Singh has come” but this was not favorable and Sikh army lost that battle badly and Shah Zaman took over Lahore. In 1799, Shah Zaman had to return from Lahore to crush the rebellion uprising in Afghanistan during his absence. He after reaching Afghanistan wrote a letter to Ranjit Singh asking him to return him the cannons fell in River Jhelum during the war and in return he will accept you as Governor of Lahore. Ranjit Singh did so and became Governor of Lahore. He should have behaved loyally to Shah Zaman because he was under him but he betrayed him and announced that Sikh empire has started from Lahore. British saw it as an opportunity and funded the opposition and army of Ranjit Singh fully to keep Afghans away from Punjab because Shah Zaman was a big threat to British so British decided to support Sikh empire to Tackle Afghans. This proves that he was not a conqueror or a reformer but he formed his Empire by betraying his own King. So this cannot be called bravery. Winston
Churchill also described them as Guardians of Marches and also said that Sikh empire was originally made to counter Afghans.

The second thing that they make is that he was a secular King. But this is no more than a bogus claim. He was more than a tyrant. His reign reminded people of Mongol era. In his era, Calling for prayer(azaan) was prohibited in Mosques, many mosques were closed, Sikh soldiers were allowed to rob and kill local residents to earn money, many red light areas were established including Famous red light area of Lahore also known as ”Heera Mandi”(now a food street), Gujranwala and Multan. Many Muslim women were raped by Sikh soldiers and also mosques like Moti Masjid and Wazir Khan Mosques were converted to Gurdwaras. Masjid Mahabat Khan of Peshawar was also destroyed by Sikh army. Yard of Badshahi Mosque was used as horse stable and its minarets were used to keep artillery. Now some historians will claim that permission was taken before using yard as stable but then a question arises that there was no other whole Punjab that he had to make stable in Mosque? He had the power to establish a big stable in any region of Lahore but why he chose a Mosque? Also when Kashmir was captured, Diwan Chand was made Governer of Kashmir and many anti Muslim laws were implemented under his Governance. Diwan Chand was same person who was made commander of Sikh army to invade Multan in 1818 and fight Nawab Muzaffar Khan of Multan. Nawab Muzaffar Khan was killed in this battle and his devotees named an entire city ”Muzaffarabad” after him. Many cases of rapes inside mosques were also reported that time. There are many so called liberal people in Pakistan who claim that this is just propaganda to ruin Sikh Muslim relationship. But there are many historians whose claims proves that Ranjit Singh’s brutality was not a myth.

When Ranjit Singh captured Peshawar in 1819 the first thing they done was setting Bala Hissar Fort on fire. It was refered by a British diplomate Lepal Griffin who wrote that ”The city (Peshawar) was pillaged, Mosque defiled and many of trees for which Peshawar valley is famous were cut down”

British Traveler William Moorcraft visited Peshawar in 1824 and observed the damage caused by Sikh invaders. He wrote ”The Sikh hold on territory west of Indus was maintained only by savage repression and continuous military effort”

Also Allama Muhammad Iqbal talked about the atrocities of Sikh empire on Muslims in his Persian poetry book named “ Javed Naama” in which he mentioned story of Sharaf un Nisa, daughter of Muslim Governor Abdus Samad of Punjab. Allama wrote (Mentioning the Dome of her tomb) that beneath this tomb, a sword and Holy Book Quran have been buried for years that tell us about the reality of this world. When sword and Holy Quran was removed by Sikh soldiers, the whole Muslim population of Punjab died at the moment. The tomb was ruined by Sikh empire and it is still in miserable condition. Many tombs and famous architecture of Mughal era e.g Sheesh Mahal and Masjid Mahabat Khan were defiled and marbles were send to decorate Sikh Gurdwaras. Tomb of Princess Zaibunnisa was one of the tomb defiled by Sikh army. Tired of these atrocities, the people of Punjab and other regions also supported Afghans and saw them as their saviour. This topic cannot be finished without telling about Horse of Ranjit Singh known as As’p Laila for which he killed over 12000 people in war just because he saw it as his lucky charm. This horse was considered as a lucky charm because it was famous that whoever had this horse never loses a battle. Also Moran Singh also known as Moran Sarkar, a prostitute who was no other than wife of Ranjit Singh. Ranjit Singh used to go to her whorehouse in Amritsar to see her dance. The proof of it can be seen in his letters in which it is mentioned that it is written from ”Moran ka Kotha”(whorehouse of Moran). He was also punished by Akali Phoola Singh for 50 belts. He married Moran and both spent their first night in one of Minarets of Wazir Khan Mosque of Lahore which is again disrespectful. He had built ”Kanjri pul” and Moran wali Masjid for her. When this mosque was built, everyone refused to offer prayer here because it was made after name of a prostitute but Ranjit Singh forcefully ordered people to come to this mosque and pray. Historian Willian Morr wrote in his book named ”Journal of a March from Delhi to Peshawar and from Thence to Cabul” that when Ranjit Singh died, his 4 wives were burnt due to Sati ritual but apart from Hindu wives, his 5 Muslim Kashmirian slave girls were also forced to perform this ritual and burn themselves.

So overall he was a womanizer, alcoholic, tyrant, dictator and an overall bad ruler who was ruling just because it was in interest of British. So why would we call him Sher e Punjab? Now some people will say that we hate him just because he was a Sikh but it is clearly wrong. There are many Sikhs whom Muslims consider a hero like Bhagat Singh, a 23 year old boy who stood against British Raj in subcontinent like an iron wall. He killed a police chief responsible for death of Lala Lajpat Rai (separatist Leader) and also attacked Delhi’s Central Legislative Assembly and after attacking, he raised a slogan ”Inquilab Zindabad” which infused a new soul into dead nation. He was jailed where he went to hunger strike and lost 6 kg due to it and after that he was punished to death. But he was one who really did a lot for freedom and the man who fought case of Bhagat Singh was no other than Jinnah. He was really hero of Punjab and Sub Continent. The other hero is Sardar Udham Singh. During 1913, the ”Baisakhi” event of Sikhs was going on in Jallianwala Bagh of Amritsar. Suddenly British army under command of General Dyer attacked the civilians with heavy guns. Many civilians jumped into well to save their life and some tried to climb the wall but all in vain. 100s of people were died in this incident. Even British Parliament criticized this act by General Dyer. During this, a little boy was also present in Jallianwala Bagh who turned out to be Sardar Udham Singh. He grew up and took revenge from General Dyer. He went to Germany then England to find General Dyer. He went to a gathering where General Dyer was also invited. He hide gun inside a book and killed General Dyer. He was also punished after this but he is no less than a hero who had enough courage to carry out all this.

Many Sikhs also say that Pakistani are anti Sikh but this is also not true. When Kartarpur Corridor was opened in 2019, Pakistani Muslims welcomed Sikhs with their open arms to their country. Also when Farmers protested against bad policies of Indian government, whole world including Pakistani supported Sikh people and farmers. This proves that the love between Pakistani and Indian Punjab is unmatched.

Now the point is that if Governor Sarwar of Punjab wanted to please Sikh people then they would have set a statue of Bhagat Singh or Sardar Udham Singh which would unite both nations because we both consider them a hero. But this act of Punjab government made their own people stood against the Government.

(Writer Sharjeel Mazhar based in Lahore, Pakistan is a student of history, having much interest in the Mughal era and afterwards)