Article on Ranjeet Singh...True or False?

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In 1820 the demographically Muslim Kashmir state was occupied by the tyrant, Sikh ruler, Ranjit Singh (1780-1839) Under who’s regime non-Sikhs were widely persecuted, eating beef was banned & repair of non-Sikh religious buildings was forbidden years after Sikh invasion. Pakistani fake-historian, Genocide & Sikh apologist Istiaq Ahmed, once erroneously claimed that Singh “provided most tolerant & benevolent rule” in Kashmir. This has been contradicted by factual-evidence, discovered from historians such as Barbara Brower & Barbara Rose Johnston. Sikhs for example were the first “bigoted rulers” who introduced forced labour into Kashmir, Who also banned “muezzins call to prayer, closing many Mosques, making cow slaughter punishable by death” & ‘nearly’ destroyed ‘the Shah-i-Hamdan mosque’.

Singh also “razed mosques & built Gurdwaras in their place” & buried the Quran in their doorways. Prior to Singh’s persecution, independent Sikh bands, known as “misals”, terrorized Muslims in the Punjab. Who had “developed a number of institutions enabling them to wage a dispersed & yet united war” between 1761—1772. Ranjit Singh, Muslims were treated horrendously & with much inequality, along with other non-Sikhs. Such examples can be seen from the use of slave labour (forced labour) and matters which concerned murder (for example if a Sikh murdered a Muslim. A fine of 16—20 rupees was to be charged on the Sikh, of which only 2 rupees (10%—12.5%) went to the family of the Muslim victim & if Hindu four rupees (20-25%) would be paid to Hindu relatives, with the rest, going to Sikh state. Under Sikh laws Hindus were worth twice-more than a Muslim.

Under Sikh law, Punjabis (90% of whom were Muslim) were taxed 90% of their earnings (this was considered too little). Following the Sikh occupation of Samana in 1709, the Sikh army participated in a massacre of the city’s Muslim residents. 10,000 unarmed Muslim men & women were slain Following the Siege of Sirhind, Banda Singh Bahadur ordered that all Muslim men, women & children be executed. All Muslim residents of Sirhind, men, women or children were all burned alive or slain. In December 1757, Sikhs pillaged Doab & city of Jullunder. During the pillaging, “Muslim Children were put to the sword, Muslim women were dragged out & forcibly converted to Sikhism” and Mosques were defiled by pigs blood by Sikhs. The body of Nassir Ali was dug out from the grave, by Sikhs and pig-flesh was thrust into it. History of the Panjab from the Remotest Antiquity to the Present Time, by Syad Muhammad Lateef.

Ranjit Singh went to Peshawar and pillaged the city, cut down trees for which the city was famous, burnt the palace of Bala Hissar & its Mosque was defiled. Diwan Chand became the first Hindu Governor of Kashmir after 1354 & enacted dozens of anti-Muslim laws in Jammu Kashmir.

Ranjit Singh raised the tax on Muslims, demolished the Jama Masjid of Srinagar and prohibited cow slaughter. The punishment for cow slaughter was the death penalty, targetting the Muslim’s. Ranjit Singh abducted all the Muslim women & sold them at Hira Mandi, market in Lahore.

During Ranjit Singh rule Badshahi & Wazir Khan masjids were converted into stables. Moti & Sunehri Masjids were forcefully converted into Sikh Gurdwaras Precious/semi precious gems, diamonds, stones adorning various Mughal era buildings were scrapped out, to fill Sikh coffers.

Part of the Badshahi Masjid was used as a garbage dumpster & horse toilet. One mosque was subsequently built and Azaan allowed ONLY when, One of Ranjeet Singh’s muslim concubines Moran bai requested it. This was known as Masjid Tawaifaan (prostitute) near Sha Aalmi.

After the ccupation of Peshawar city in 1819. First thing Ranjit Singh did, was to set the historic Bala Hissar on fire. Lepel Griffin writes “The city (Peshawar) was pillaged Bala Hissar burnt, Mosque defiled & many of tree’s for which Peshawar valley is famous, were cut down”.

Traveler William Moorcraft visited Peshawar in 1824 and observed the damage caused by Sikh invaders. He writes :

The Sikh’s hold on territory west of the Indus was maintained only by savage repression and continuous military effort. Runjit Singh himself called Peshawar “a necklace of knives hung around my throat by Hari Singh” [“Afghanistan : highway of conquest” , Arnold Fletcher, p-80]

[Dost Muhammad Khan clashed with Sikhs in 1835 and] Gardner who by this time was serving in Ranjit Singh’s Force tell us what happened as the two armies faced each other : ( KIM that Gardener is Sikh loyalist, he’s against Muslims)

[After Ranjit Singh died] “His four wives, all very handsome, burnt themselves with his body, as did five of his Muslim Cashmerian slave girls” Acc. to this account, four of Ranjeet Singh’s wives and 5-7 of his Muslim slave girls (pressurized) voluntarily ‘sacrificed’ themselves.

Source: Journal of a March from Delhi to Peshâwur and from Thence to Câbul by William Barr, published 1844 but the subject matter is between Jan-1839 to Jul-1839 Sikhs practiced Sati. Martin Honigberger also described Ranjit Singh’s funeral and the sati:

23 years old Churchill was understandably very ignorant about origin and historical background of Sikhs. “The Sikh is the guardian of marches”…only since foundation of Ranjit Singh’s empire in early 19th century. “He (Sikh) was originally invented to combat the Pathans.”

In Peshawar the daily morning routine was, to pick-up few local Muslim tribesmen, And hang them from the gates, as Ranjit Singh passed to gloss over the ‘dead Musalman’ Shah Shuja described Ranjit Singh as] ‘both vulgar and tyrannical, as well as ugly and low-natured.

When Nadir Shah invaded India in 1739, Sikhs took advantage of the situation and started harassing other Punjabis (Muslims and Hindus). Hari Ram Gupta writes: “To begin with they (Sikhs) fell upon the peaceable inhabitants of Punjab, who had sought shelter in the hills and Immediately after Nadir Shah invasion of India in 1739, Zakriya Khan, the subedar of Lahore, Took measures to repopulate the villages and towns which were looted and destroyed by the Sikhs in his absence.

Sikhs attacked and killed a large number Hindu and Muslim (Punjabi) Chauhdris and Muqqadams who did the duty of protecting their villages from the Sikh robbers. After killing those Hindu and Muslim headmen, Sikhs laid their villages to waste.

A band of Dal Khalsa (who numbered 5,000 according to Gyan Singh) sneaked into Lahore city one evening And put to sword innocent shopkeepers (Hindu and Muslim Punjabis) and plundered their shops. Sikhs k!lled slew Muslim Muftis and Qazis of the city.

Death of Moin-ul-Mulk was welcome news for Sikh robbers. In 1754, Charat Singh (grandfather of Ranjit Singh) and his men dressed themselves in Muslim garbs, And robbed, looted & plundered the (Muslim & Hindu) merchants and jewelers of Lahore city.

When Ahmad Shah Abdali invaded Punjab in 1750, Sikhs saw it as an opportunity to plunder Lahore. Sikhs plundered & burnt the outer portions of the Lahore city to ashes. So much for building. Sikhs were destroyers of Lahore. [“History of the Sikhs”, H.R.Gupta, Vol-1, pp.64-65]

Earlier Sikhs had made agreement with Mir Mannu that They would give up plundering, rape & banditry & would settle as ‘peaceful peasants’ But Sikhs had become addicted to plunder & rapine. Sikhs could not help themselves and they violated the terms they had with Mir Mannu and Sikhs plundered Lahore city when Mir Mannu was busy dealing with Ahmad Shah Abdali in 1750 When Mir Mannu returned to Lahore, he found beautiful city pillaged & half in ruins. He sent his men after Sikh marauders. Any soldier who brought a head of Sikh marauder, received Rs 10

When Ahmad Shah Abdali invaded Punjab for the third time in 1752 Sikhs yet again, saw it as an opportunity, to plunder and slaughter their Punjabi brethren of other faiths. Mainly Punjabi Muslim’s, so much for Punjabiyat & Punjabi brotherhood.

Muin-ul-mulk aka Mir Mannu (governor of Lahore) died in November 1753. In the reign of Sher Singh (1841-1843) Sikh’s disrespected & desecrated grave of Mir Mannu, dug out his remains & scattered it to winds. Mir Mannu who gave permission, for Sikhs to settle in Punjab & Lahore.

A Maratha news-letter, dated to 2 March 1759, about Sikhs :- “they [Sikhs] do not abstain from pillaging and plundering, So much so that out of fear of from that sect the gates of the city wall [of Lahore] are kept closed”. Sikhs had laid waste to the countryside of Lahore & The (Muslim) inhabitants of the city were starving because of them. The Maratha new-letter further says that plunder was custom of Sikhs And negotiations were going on, with Sikh misls & chiefs, they were asked to abandon the practice of rape & plunder.

In 18th century Sikhs were strongly associated with highway robbery. (Mainly against Muslim’s) Ch : Fall of Sirhind March 1758 This is evident from the following statement of a contemporary historian of Delhi (author of Tarikh-i-Alamgir Sani) :-

In 1757, the alliance of Adina Beg and Sikhs defeated Jahan Khan, the general of Ahmad Shah Abdali. Sikhs then advanced towards Jalandhar. Poetical epic Panth Prash of Sikhs (written in 1841) boasts that Sikhs massacred the entire Muslim population of Jalandhar, sparing only …

Sparing only Hindus with tufts of hairs on their heads. Sikhs dug out dead body of a Muslim noble from his grave & stuffed its mouth with pork. Author of Panth Prash also ‘boasts’ that Sikhs forcibly took surviving Muslim females of the massacred M population, as their wives :-

After plundering Lahore in 1746, the Dal Khalsa fell upon Gondlanwala village & plundered its flock. The residents of the village complained to the Hindu faujdar of Eminabad in the vicinity. The Hindu diwan sent message to Sikhs, nicely asking them to return the goats to the…villagers (mainly Muslim’s) and leave. Sikhs refused on the ground, that they are hungry. When they refused to leave the area immediately, the Hindu faujdar attacked Sikhs, but he was defeated & killed by them. [“History of the Sikhs”, by Hari Ram Gupta, Vol-1, pp-25-26]

Ranjit Singh conquered Rojhan. Harand & Dajal from Khan of Kalat in 1827. Subsequently Mazarai Balochs were defeated and driven-out from their lands by Diwan Sawan Mai. This was to wipe out Muslims from every region of Sikh rule. From Peshawar to Lahore to Kashmir to Delhi etc

Paolo Avitabile – The face of the brutal Sikh occupation of Peshawar. His gruesome punishments and ruthless ‘justice’ drove half of the (Muslim) population of Peshawar away from the city. A thread on this Italian Neapolitan mercenary

Ranjeet Singh & Sikh misls were barbaric bandits Who destroyed Mosques, ban Azans, rape Muslim women, forced convert Muslims & desecrate Muslim sacred sites (like Mosques,Graves, Sufi Shrines etc)

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Sources
—–“The Sikhs” by Khushwant Singh Source: Soldier and traveler; memoirs of Alexander Gardner, Colonel of Artillery in the service of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, published 1898

—–Ahmad Hasan Dani; Vadim Mikhaĭlovich Masson; Unesco (1 January 2003). History of Civilizations of Central Asia: Development in contrast : from the sixteenth to the mid-nineteenth century. UNESCO. pp. 317–319. ISBN 978-92-3-103876-1.

—–FAKE HISTORIAN & SIKH APOLOGIST, MUSLIM GENOCIDE APOLOGIST :Ahmed, Istiaq (August 19, 2012). The ‘bloody’ Punjab partition Ishtiaq Ahmed. Daily Times. Retrieved 22 May 2014. Barbara Brower; Barbara Rose Johnston (2007)

—–DISAPPEARING PEOPLES ? : INDIGENOUS GROUPS AND ETHNIC MINORITIES IN SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA. Left Coast Press. p. 135. ISBN 978-1-59874-121-6. The Sikh Review. Sikh Cultural Centre. 2005. p. 53. Ahmad Hasan Dani; Vadim Mikhaĭlovich Masson; Unesco (1 January 2003).

—–History of Civilizations of Central Asia: Development in contrast : from the sixteenth to the mid-nineteenth century. UNESCO. pp. 320. Om Gupta (1 April 2006). Encyclopaedia of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Gyan Publishing House. p. 1233. ISBN 978-81-8205-389-2.

—–French (1931). Himalayan Art. Neeraj Publishing House. p. 17. Priscilla Hayter Napier (1 January 1990). I have Sind: Charles Napier in India, 1841-1844. M. Russell. p. 50. Country Life. Country Life, Limited. 1980. p. 463. Parmanand Parashar (1 January 2004).

——Kashmir The Paradise Of Asia. Sarup & Sons. pp. 6–7. ISBN 978-81-7625-518-9. Nyla Ali Khan (15 September 2010). Islam, Women, and Violence in Kashmir: Between India and Pakistan. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 3. ISBN 978-0-230-11352-7

——Kulwant Rai Gupta (2003). India-Pakistan Relations with Special Reference to Kashmir. Atlantic Publishers & Dist. p. 334. ISBN 978-81-269-0271-2 Country Life. Country Life, Limited. 1980. p. 463

——History of the Panjab from the Remotest Antiquity to the Present Time, by Syad Muhammad Lateef.

—–To state only “native” history can be considered valuable is an absurd claim. But since this is the case, Tulsi Ram wrote in his book, Sher-e-Punjab, (published in 1872).