Mir Mannu

Muin ul-Mulk, known as Mir Mannu, was governor of Lahore and the Punjab from April 1748 until his death in November 1753. The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism calls him a worse foe of the Sikhs than his predecessors Abd us Samad Khan, Zakariya Khan and Yahiya Khan. Punjabi folk songs depict him as a tyrant who inflicted great suffering on the Sikhs.

Key moments

• 11 March 1748. He defeated the Afghan invader Ahmad Shah Durrani at Manupur, near Sirhind. His father, Wazir Qamar ud-Din, was killed in the battle. He took charge of the province in April 1748.
• 1748. His first act, according to Syad Muhammad Latif, was to storm the fort of Ram Rauni at Amritsar, where 500 Sikhs had taken shelter. He stationed troops wherever Sikhs lived to arrest them and shave their heads and beards, and ordered hill chiefs to send Sikhs in irons to Lahore. Hundreds were executed each day at the horse market outside the Delhi Gate, where Gurdwara Shaheed Ganj now stands.
• 1748 to 1752. Under the influence of his Hindu minister Diwan Kaura Mal, and facing the threat of another Afghan invasion, he paused the campaign and gave the Sikhs a jagir of twelve villages worth about 1.25 lakh rupees a year. In 1750 Kaura Mal led an army that included Sikh contingents under Jassa Singh Ahluwalia against Shah Nawaz Khan of Multan, who was killed.
• March to April 1752. Durrani returned. The fighting opened on 5 March 1752, Kaura Mal fell on the second day, 6 March, and Mannu surrendered and paid 30 lakh rupees. The treaty, ratified on 13 April 1752, ceded Lahore and Multan to Durrani, who reinstated Mannu.
• 1752 to 1753. With Kaura Mal dead, his only link with the Sikh sardars was gone. He put bounties on Sikhs and banned giving them refuge. His musketeers searched villages, and women and children were taken in chains to Lahore and killed at the horse market.
• 4 November 1753. He died after an accidental fall from his horse. His widow, Mughlani Begam, took power, and the Encyclopaedia says his death only deepened the anarchy.

Sikh memory holds him as one of the persecutors of the years before the Vadda Ghallughara. His rule also shows how much Sikh fortunes turned on who held Lahore and on the pressure from the Afghans: he paused the persecution while he needed Kaura Mal and the Sikh contingents, and renewed it once that link was gone.