On the way back to Lahore, Abdali instructed the destruction and desecration of the Sikh shrine in Amritsar. Wali Khan ‘pleaded against the move’ but Najib, Abdali’s Rohilla ally, supported it.31 In acts the Sikhs would not forget, the temple was blown up with gunpowder and the sacred tank desecrated with the flesh and blood of cows. Cart-loads of Sikh heads were brought from Kup to be displayed on the gates of Lahore, which was back under Afghan control.
