Rohtas Fort is a historical barracks fort located near the city of Jhelum
in Punjab, Pakistan. It was built by the Afghan king Sher Shah Suri, to restrain
the rebellious tribes of the northern Punjab region, in 16th century. This fort
is about 4 km in circumference. The Rohtas fort was built to crush the
local tribes of Potohar, who rebelled against the Sur dynasty after the Mughal
emperor Humayun was ousted by the former. The tribes included, Awans, Janjua
Rajputs, Abbasis, Kayanis, Minhas Rajputs, Khokhars among others. This fort is
about 4 km in circumference
It took 8 years to build the Rohtas fort but the Rohtas fort was recaptured
by local tribes and it became the capital of Ghakkars. Ironically the very
people it was designed to crush were actually became the sole owners of Rohtas
fort and Afghans were not only defeated but they were forced to flee after
accepting heavy defeat. As a consequence Afghans not only lost to local tribes
of Northern Punjab but many people from Northern Punjab later inhabited
Southern parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa who still live there especially in Hazara
Division and are known as Hindkowans. As a consequence Afghans lost Attock and
neighboring regions to Potohari tribes as well. The fort was captured by Mughal
emperor Humayun in 1555.Nadir
Shah, the Turkic ruler of Persia, Afghan ruler Ahmed Shah Abdali and Maratha
army also camped here during their respective campaigns in the Punjab. Rohtas
was also occasionally used for administrative purposes by the Sikh ruler Ranjit
Singh after he captured it in 1825.
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