A nine-foot-tall bronze sculpture of the main leader of the Sikh Empire, Maharaja Ranjit Singh, was on Tuesday vandalized by an extremist of the prohibited Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) at the Lahore Fort in Pakistan’s Punjab territory, as indicated by media reports.
India says such assaults establish an ‘environment of dread’ among the minority communities
India has hammered the demonstration, saying Pakistan has fizzled in its obligation to forestall such assaults which are making an “environment of dread” among the minority networks.
A video cut coursing via online media shows the denounced reciting mottos, breaking the arm of the sculpture and destroying Singh’s bust from the pony and hurling it to the ground before being pulled away by another man.
Actions after the incident
The TLP dissident has been captured by the Punjab police, the Express Tribune paper detailed.
The Lahore Fort’s organization said that a severe move would be made against the denounced.
Responding to the episode, Pakistan’s Information Minister Fawad Chaudhary in a tweet said that such “uneducated people are truly risky” for the nation’s picture universally.
Shahbaz Gill, Special Assistant to Pakistan’s Prime Minister on political correspondence, said that a quick move would be made against the charges.
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This is the third time that the Maharaja’s sculpture, situated in high-security Lahore Fort complex, has been vandalised
The sculpture was disclosed in June 2019. This isn’t the first occasion that the sculpture has been designated. The arm of the sculpture was broken in Lahore last year. It was likewise harmed in August 2019 by two youngsters, as indicated by Geo News.
India’s External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said episodes of savagery against minority networks, remembering assaults for their places of love, their social legacy, just as their private property, was expanding at a “disturbing rate” in Pakistan.
‘Disturbing reports’
“We have seen disturbing reports in the media about the vandalisation of the statue of Maharaja Ranjit Singh in Lahore today. This is the third such incident wherein the statue has been vandalised since it was unveiled in 2019,” Mr Bagchi said.
“Such attacks on the cultural heritage of minority communities in Pakistan highlight the growing intolerance and lack of respect for minority communities in Pakistani society,” he said.
“It was only 12 days ago that a mob attacked and desecrated a Hindu temple in Rahim Yar Khan in Pakistan,” he said.
