HARKING BACK: Lahore's Muslim traders and Ranjit Singh victory.

Byline: Majid Sheikh

The capture of Lahore by Maharajah Ranjit Singh in 1799 was no fluke. It was supported by the Muslim traders of the old city and there are special reasons for this, the most important being his bravery, fair-mindedness and secular outlook.

We read every day about the fall of Lahore to the Sikhs, yet very few realise that had this not happened the Lahore of old would not be the great city that it became. Let us go back to the autumn of 1796 when for the third time Ahmed Shah Zaman crossed the Indus heading for Delhi. The Afghan intention was, as it always has been, to loot and possess whatever they can snatch. The only Muslim to support Shah Zaman was, again of Afghan origin, the ruler of Kasur, Nizamuddin Khan. They still are known as Kasuris. The other traitors to the cause of the Punjab was the ruler of Patiala, whom like the Kasuris have supported every invader.

Shah Zaman used to brag that 'where Afghan horses tread the grass never grows again'. The arrival of the Afghans sent all the Sikh Misls fleeing to the hills to the north. Only two 'misls' remained, they being the Sukerchakria and the Bhangis. They both rushed to Amritsar and urged the Sikh chiefs to unite and follow a new strategy. They would watch in very small groups of ten horsemen, and after the loot had been completed they would attack unrelentingly day and night till they crossed the Indus at Attock. This was the only way to completely destroy the invader.

But Ranjit Singh insisted that while the hit-and-run strategy would certainly work as it has in the past, but Lahore he would surround himself and clear the countryside around the city. The Bhangis refused to fight a static battle. So while he surrounded Lahore the remaining formed into smaller bands, hundreds of them all the way to the Indus. So one 'static' battleground was agreed and the remaining force would be fluid.

Every night Ranjit Singh would attack Afghan forces at Lahore and burnt all crops for ten miles around. The invaders started starving and sniper fire at night kept them on edge. As no new assistance was possible or able to get out of the siege, by January 1797 the Afghans were desperate and to add to their troubles Shah Zaman's brother was rising in rebellion in Kabul. Shahanchi Khan was made Governor of Lahore and as Zaman headed for Kabul the Sikh horsemen decimated his force. In Lahore and throughout India the 18-year old Ranjit Singh was seen as the new saviour of the people.

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