Raja Ranjit Singh’s statue vandalised in Lahore

LAHORE: Two men vandalised a statue of Punjab’s ruler Raja Ranjit Singh placed near his grave in Shahi Qila, Lahore. The incident occurred on Saturday when the Qila had been routinely opened to visitors. Two men — one pretending to have a leg disability carrying a wooden rod and another "helping him to walk" — entered the Qila.

Both men went straight to the statue and started hitting it with the wooden rods, resulting in the breakage of one of its arms and damage to other parts of the statue. Security guards rushed to the spot and captured the attackers who were chanting slogans against the former rule of the Punjab.

Later, the attackers were handed over to the police, who registered a case against them on the complaint of Walled City Authority. Superintendent of Police (SP) Syed Ghazanfar Shah said that the attackers were motivated and vandalised the statue "on the basis of religious biases".