Since its unveiling in June of 2019, the statue of Sikh ruler Maharaja Ranjit Singh situated at Lahore Fort, has been vandalized for a third time on Monday. The perpetrator, a TLP worker, was able to topple off the statue from its horse and break its arm, before being restrained by bystanders and eventually arrested. One motivation to target this particular installation is the fact that Ranjit Singh was a secular leader, having many Muslims as ministers in his team, with even his arsenal looked after by a Muslim. He was also an educator, taking over Punjab after centuries of Mughal rule. He did not abolish or disrupt the popular madrassa format of education, rather grew it, setting up new ones himself and giving generous donations for the same purpose. In a larger context however, it is perhaps the fact that he was a non-Muslim who has been paid a tribute by a Muslim state that irks these vandals so much that they commit such crimes, driven by hate extremist thinking.
Some introspection is also warranted on part of the state and powers that be who have not only created elements such as the TLP, but allowed their numbers and power to grow over the years. The Faizabad sit-in judgment by the Supreme Court spells out very clearly how that violent siege began and continued for ten days with support, both financial and otherwise, from various power centres of the country. Because the group was not dealt with an iron hand back then, it felt empowered to challenge the writ of the state on multiple occasions later, which it did successfully by closing down cities and resorting to violence in the streets, to the extent that the last time round, multiple Punjab Police officials were taken hostage.
Any and all efforts to project that precious ‘soft image’ of Pakistan, that is such a priority for Prime Minister Imran Khan, are nullified by a single act of hatred. Until the state steps in and starts addressing the deeper malaise in society that has been allowed to fester for far too long, religious extremism will continue to flourish unabated.
