The Demise of Zakariya Khan
Bhai Taru Singh (TS) was a Sikh leader who once noticed Sikhs saving a poor girl from the Moghuls and decided to Join the Sikh army (Khalsa). During this time, ZK continued his persecution of Sikhs and blocked the golden temple at Amritsar and prevented Sikhs from worshipping. The Sikh Khalsa decided to organize themselves to overthrow ZK to reclaim their right to worship. TS and his sister provided shelter to devout Sikhs and hearing about this ZK imprisoned TS and tortured him.
After months of torture, TS was brought before ZK and ZK asked him what was the source of his endurance and strength. TS responded by saying that it was his Kesh (hair) that gave him the strength. ZK was aware that the Kesh was a source of religious pride for the Sikhs and gave him two options – die by the sword or convert to Islam. TS refused and ZK condemned him to die and set a date. In a public display, TS’s hair and scalp were cut off to send a message to everyone. In response, TS cursed that ZK would die by his own shoes. 22 days after cutting off TS’s hair ZK died. TS died as a martyr after hearing that his words turned to be correct. (“Martyrdom in the Sikh Tradition: Playing the "Game of Love". Oxford University Press. p. 220.” By Louis French)
After ZK’s demise, YK became the Governor of Lahore to the dismay of SNK. During that time the custom was after the death of the Governor the Delhi Sultan would confiscate the entire property until the right to ownership was clearly established. YK was the eldest son and was politically better connected to the Delhi Sultanate and after the death of his father, he went to Delhi to meet with Muhammad Shah. After days of waiting, he finally met with the Sultan and he released ZK’s property. YK came back to Lahore triumphantly and refused to share the property with his brother SNK. This obviously angered SNK and after days of street fighting between the brothers and their gangs, finally, SNK got the better of YK and imprisoned him, and made himself the Governor of Lahore.
He was quite aware that this would worsen the relationship with the Delhi Sultanate, and when his intelligence sources told him about ASD’s planned invasion of India, he thought that siding with ASD was his best option to stay in power. He consulted with Adina Beg Khan (ABK) who advised him to send his envoy to ASD assuring him that he would get full support from SNK in return for allowing him to continue as the Governor of Lahore. ASD belonged to the Shite faith in Islam and to please him SNK converted to Shite faith as a matter of political convenience and in the letter that he sent o ASD, he affixed his name with the new official seals which had the names of the 12 Shite Imams.
ASD of course was delighted to receive the letter from SNK and he thanked God for making things easy for him and sent his reply stating that he would guarantee him the Governorship of Lahore in return for his full cooperation.
However, ABK was playing a double game and without letting SNK know he alerted QMK about this conspiracy. QMK tried to appeal to the finer sense of humanity in SNK and wrote him a letter stating that he needs to be loyal to the sultan and it would be utterly demeaning to him to serve under the servant of Nadir Shah. SNK was in two minds and finally, he decided to try his luck with the Moghuls.
When ASD came to know about this, he remained unperturbed.