Statue of Maharaja Ranjit Singh vandalised in Pakistan
Islamabad: India’s historic move to change the status of Jammu and Kashmir has discomforted Pakistan so much that Prime Minister Imran Khan, in his weekend, took to social media to attack New Delhi once again over attempting to “change demography of Kashmir through ethnic cleansing.”
The prime minister took to Twitter saying that the “curfew, crackdown and impending genocide of Kashmiris” in so-called “occupied-Kashmir” are “unfolding exactly according to the RSS ideology inspired by Nazi ideology.”
“Attempt is to change the demography of Kashmir through ethnic cleansing,” he said.
“Will the world watch and appease as they did Hitler at Munich?” Khan questioned further.
Khan’s remarks came in the wake of India’s decision to revoke Article 370 that accorded special status to the region and pass a bill bifurcating Jammu and Kashmir into two Union Territories.
The new union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh will come into existence on October 31.
In his provocative remarks, Khan further alleged that he is “afraid” of the fact that this “RSS ideology of Hindu Supremacy, like the Nazi Aryan Supremacy, will not stop” in Kashmir, and “instead it will lead to suppression of Muslims in India and eventually lead to targeting of Pakistan.”
“The Hindu Supremacists version of Hitler’s Lebensraum,” he added.
Amid the heightening tension, Pakistan, last week, initiated a series of decisions, including downgrading bilateral relations with India and suspending bilateral trade, halting of Samjhauta and Thar Express trains from its side and banning of Indian movies from Pakistani cinemas.
On its part, New Delhi asked Islamabad to review its decision so that normal channels for diplomatic communications are preserved while strictly maintaining that its steps in Jammu and Kashmir are an “entirely internal affair”.
The international community has urged both countries to exercise restraint and ensure that peace and stability prevail across the Line of Control (LoC).
Meanwhile, a statue of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, who ruled over Punjab for close to 40 years in the early 19th century, was vandalised by two men in this Pakistani city on Saturday.
The nine-feet statue, made of cold bronze, was unveiled at the Lahore Fort in June on the 180th death anniversary of Maharaja. Singh, the first Maharaja of the Sikh Empire, died in 1839. Police have arrested two men and registered a case against them under the country’s blasphemy laws.
The two men were angry after India revoked the special status to Jammu and Kashmir last week.
The suspects belonged to Tehreek-Labbaik Pakistan of radical cleric Maulana Khadim Rizvi.
The Walled City of Lahore Authority that is responsible for the matters of the Lahore Fort has expressed shock and vowed to repair the statue soon after Eid.
“This is quite unfortunate incident. We will enhance security at the Lahore Fort so that no such incident should take place in the future,” Walled City of Lahore Authority spokesperson Tania Qureshi told PTI.
“The statue’s restoration will be carried out from next week. Once it is repaired it will be opened for the public again.” It took eight months to complete the statue of the Sikh ruler sitting on his favourite horse named Kahar Bahar with a sword in hand.
The horse was a gift from Dost Muhammad Khan, the founder of the Barazkai 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. (PTI)