A forgotten legacy.

For over a thousand years, the lands comprising of the Indus basin were marauded by invaders from Central Asia and Afghanistan. The people of Punjab, Balochistan and Sindh had always been on the forefront to bear the onslaught of these invasions. Mahmud Ghazni of Afghanistan invaded 19 times during the period 997-1030. Thereafter, the Central Asian and Afghan Sultanates invaded and the region was consequently ruled by five successive dynasties of Mamluk (1206-1290), Khilji (1290-1320), Tughlaq (1320-1414), Sayyid (1414-1451) and Lodhi (1451-1526). This was followed by the invasion of Babur, from Uzbekistan, who established the Mughal dynasty in the subcontinent from 1526-1707. Nadir Shah of Persia invaded in 1738. Ahmad Shah Abdali attacked nine times from 1747-1769. During the attacks of Nadir Shah and Ahmad Shah Abdali, the rising Sikh chieftains, in order to protect the people of the Punjab, posed a significant challenge to the invading troops. In response, Ahmad Shah Abdali heartlessly killed 25,000 Sikhs on a single day in 1762 near Malerkotla and also stormed the Golden Temple at Amritsar with cannons.

During the mid-18th century, territories in Punjab had started coming under the influence of 12 Sikh chieftains, with many external powers simultaneously trying to infiltrate. The Pathans ruled Kasur in the neighbourhood of Lahore while George Thomas, an English adventurer, had occupied Hansi in south-eastern Punjab. Afghans continued to assert their presence from the north-west, Gurkhas from the north-east, the British from the east and the Marathas from the south-east. It was during these tumultuous times that Ranjit Singh, the son of the soil of the Punjab, rose to power at Lahore in 1799 and became the 'Lion of Punjab,' one whom even the mighty British feared to challenge. Ranjit Singh inspired a spirit of oneness amongst Punjabis, making them rise beyond their religious backgrounds. It is noteworthy that his Hindu and Sikh troops defeated the coreligionist chiefs of Punjab, while his Muslim troops did not pay heed to the appeals from coreligionist Afghans to crusade against him. He consolidated the Punjab and extended its boundaries to the frontiers of Afghanistan. He also conquered Kashmir and Ladakh in the north and brought them under the administration of the Lahore Darbar. Ranjit Singh created a mighty kingdom which, for the first time in 1,000 years, was ruled by the people of the land.

The expansionist policies of Maharaja...