The Governorship of Mir Mannu
Mir Mannu (shortened from Mu'in ul-Mulk) became Governor of Lahore and the surrounding provinces in 1748 through his exploits in battle against the Afghan army. His first act as governor was to storm the Sikh fort at Amritsar, where 500 Sikhs had taken shelter. Mir Mannu then stationed detachments of troops in all parts of Punjab with any Sikh inhabitants with orders to capture them and shave their heads and beards. His oppression was such that large numbers of Sikhs moved to relatively inaccessible mountains and forests. The governor ordered the hill rajas to apprehend Sikhs and send them in irons to Lahore. Hundreds were thus taken to Lahore and executed in the horse market before crowds of onlookers.
Partly through the influence of his Hindu minister, Kaura Mall, who was sympathetic to the Sikhs, and partly because of the threat of another Afghan invasion, Mir Mannu made peace with the Sikhs the next year. This truce was to last until the passing of Kaura Mall in battle against the Afghans in 1752 and the surrender of Lahore to invader Ahmad Shah Durrani.
In his new role as Governor for the Afghans, Mir Mannu was able to resume his persecution of the Sikhs. Moreover, he had arranged for new artillery to be forged and a unit of 900 men assigned especially to the hunting down of the “infidels”. In the words of an eye witness: “Muin appointed most of the gunmen to the task of chastising the Sikhs. They ran after these wretches up to 67 kilometers (42 mi) a day and slew them wherever they stood up to oppose them. Anybody who brought a Sikh head received a reward of ten rupees per head.”
According to that same account: “The Sikhs who were captured alive were sent to hell by being beaten with wooden mallets. At times, Adina Beg Khan sent 40-50 Sikh captives from the Doab. They were as a rule killed with the strokes of wooden hammers.”
Mir Mannu did not refrain from visiting torture and death upon the Sikh womenfolk and children. According to a Sikh account, the women were seized from their homes and “put to grind grain in the prison. Many were given merciless lashing... Each of the detainees was given 450 kilos (half a ton) of grain to grind in a day. Exhausted from thirst and hunger, they plied their stone-mills. They plied their stone-mills and sang their Guru's hymns. The Hindu or the Muslim, or in fact anyone who saw them and listened to their songs was utterly astonished. As their children, hungry and thirsty, wailed and writhed on the ground for a morsel, the helpless prisoners in the clutches of the tyrants could do little except solace them with their affection. Wearied from crying, the hungry children would at last go to sleep.”
History recalls instances of Sikh children being hacked to pieces in front of their mothers. The bits of flesh would be thrown around the mothers' necks like garlands. Still the brave women chanted and toiled on.
Mir Mannu's cruel reign (1748–53), however, had little effect on the spirit of the Sikhs. From their suffering and sacrifice, they gained in strength and numbers. A common saying of that time went: “Mannu is our sickle, We the fodder for him to mow. The more he cuts, the more we grow.”
Read more about this topic: Sikh Holocaust Of 1762