Question

What were the causes of the Second Anglo-Sikh War?

Answer 1

• The humiliation caused by the first Anglo-Sikh war wherein the Sikh Empire had lost some territories to the British East India Company.
  
• The Sikh regent, Maharani Jindan Kaur was not treated properly by the British. She was removed from Lahore on conspiracy charges against the British resident in Lahore.

• Multan was a part of the Sikh Empire when Maharaja Ranjit Singh had captured it in 1818.
  

Multan was governed by Dewan Mulraj. He resented the Lahore Court’s (capital of the Sikh Empire but controlled by the British resident since the first Anglo-Sikh war) demand for increased tax assessment and revenues.

• The British Resident at that time was Sir Frederick Currie. He undermined Mulraj and imposed another governor Sardar Kahan Singh along with a British agent Patrick Vans Agnew.
  
• In 1848, Vans Agnew and another officer who arrived in Multan to take charge were murdered by Mulraj’s troops.
  
• This news led to unrest in Punjab and many Sikh soldiers joined the rebel forces against the British.