Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s statue vandalised in Lahore, man arrested

By Muhammad JuniadPublished On 06 Jan 2023

The Lahore police have arrested a man for vandalising the statue of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. A hammer has been seized from his possession.

The police said that the suspect, identified as Rizwan, was arrested hours after he damaged the statue.

The Lahore CCPO said that legal action will be taken against the suspect.

Historian Ali Usman Qasmi shared a video of the vandalism and claimed that it was done by a member of the banned Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan.

This is the third time the statue has been vandalised since it was unveiled two years ago. In December 2020, a young man had broken the arm of the Maharaja's statue, while two men had attacked with it wooden sticks in August 2019.

The sculpture was installed at the Lahore Fort’s historic Mai Jindan Haveli to mark the 180th anniversary of the former ruler's death on June 28, 2019. The haveli has been named after Ranjit Singh’s youngest queen and holds features a permanent exhibition of artifacts belonging to the Maharaja.

The government had taken eight months to finish the eight-foot-tall statue of the king sitting on his favourite horse named Kahar Bahar, a gift from Dost Muhammad Khan, the founder of the Barakzai dynasty.

The statue was built and installed by the Walled City of Lahore Authority (WCLA) in collaboration with the UK-based Sikh Heritage Foundation, which funded the project.

According to Time Now News, the statue was made by artists from Lahore’s National College of Art and Naqsh School of Art under the supervision of Faqir Khana Museum Director Faqir Saifuddin.

Known as Sher-e-Punjab or Lion of Punjab, Singh was the first Maharaja of the Sikh Empire who ruled over Punjab for close to 40 years. He died in 1839.