Like the chained tree of Landi Kotal, two panels of a double door of the Shabqadar Fort, 20 miles from Peshawar, are chained to the watchtower. Here the story is not so much about the actions of a drunken officer, however, more about being made a scapegoat for royalty. A plaque on the doors reads: “The weeping willows: In the winter of 1840, a Mohmand Lashkar (war party) succeeded in breaking down these gates. The then-Sikh Maharaja Sher Singh (Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s son) had them court-martialed for treason. French General Jean Ventura headed the proceedings which lasted two days, finding them to be guilty as charged and the gates were sentenced to 100 years imprisonment. They are languishing enchained ever since”
Sometime during the winter of 1840, a group of Mohmand (a Pashtun tribe) warriors attacked the Shabqadar Fort (then known as Shankar Garh Fort) and made their way inside after a bloody clash. The fighting lasted the entire night, but eventually, the Sikhs, led by Prince Sher Singh, who happened to be staying at the fort, fought back, and by morning, the attacking tribesmen had been pushed out. After the attack, the infuriated prince ordered an investigation to ascertain how the tribesmen had managed to make their way inside the fort.
Ventura was one of the first European officers to be employed by Ranjit Singh, the Sikh ruler of Punjab, to train his troops in the art of European warfare. As commander of the Fauj-i-Khas (European model brigade), he attained the rank of general and was also appointed Kazi and governor of Lahore.
General Ventura carried out a detailed investigation for two days. The verdict handed down surprised everyone; the wooden doors of the fort gate were held responsible for the invasion and were sentenced to chained imprisonment of 100 years. General Ventura probably did not want to ruffle feathers by laying blame on the Sikh ruler Sher Singh, who was inside the fort during the night of the raid.
In Urdu and Punjabi, there is the term ‘Sikha-Shahi,’ which means chaotic or atypical government policies. So when you learn about a door sentenced to be chained during the Sikh era, you kind of nod in agreement that this must have been one of those examples of the so-called Sikha-Shahi.
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