The statue of 19th century Sikh ruler Maharaja RanjitSingh has been vandalised for the third time in Lahore, Pakistan, reports said.
"Shameful this bunch of illiterates are reallydangerous for Pakistan's image in the world," commented PakistanInformation and Broadcasting Minister Fawad Chaudhry on Twitter.
Member of a radical party, Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan(TLP) pulled down Ranjit Singh's statue at the Lahore Fort. The statue hadpreviously been vandalized by TLP workers on at least two different occasionsin the past.
In a video shared on Twitter, the man could be seenstriking the statue with his bare hands and damaging its arms and other parts.
The statue, which was unveiled at the 'Mai Jinda' haveliin Lahore in June 2019, was earlier vandalised by radical Islamists in August2019 and then again in December last year.
A teenage visitor had broken the arm of the Maharaja'sstatue in December 2020. After he was nabbed, he told the police that his'religious sentiments' were hurt seeing the statue of a Sikh ruler at the fort.
Following last year's incident, the authorities hadclosed the enclosure which displays the bronze figure of Maharaja Ranjit Singh.
According to the report, the latest vandalisation of thestatue was carried out by a person named Rizwan at the Lahore fort. He waschanting something in a foreign tongue as he breached the railings around thestatue. He could be seen pulling the parts of the statue in the social mediapost. He would break a part, that would fall away and he too, along with it.
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Rizwan would stand up gain and breach the railings pushand pull until one more piece would fall off.
Rizwan has been apprehended and sent behind bars forvandalising the statue.
The nine-feet statue is made of cold bronze. It shows theregal Sikh emperor sitting on a horse, sword in hand, complete in Sikh attire.