Cut off from surrounding villages by steep mountains to the north-east and encircled by the waters of the Soan River, the Pharwala Fort – once the capital of the Ghakkar state – is nestled strategically on a hilltop location that made it one of the toughest fortresses to subdue.

Recorded history puts the fort’s date of construction somewhere in the 15th century. Even though the location was fortified by the Ghakkars, a fort had existed here since the 10th century AD.

It was attacked by Shahabuddin Ghauri in 1205 AD and later by Quttubuddin Aibak and Shershah Suri as well. The fortress has also served as a Mughal and Sikh stronghold, but is now home to the Ghakkar clan.

The mammoth banyan tree inside the fort that provides shade to several old unmarked graves.

Even today, there is only one single-lane road that leads to the fort, which is located some 20km from Islamabad near Kahuta. The vast Pharwala Fort now serves as a residence to 20 primarily Ghakkar households. Today, it looks less like a fortress and resembles a small village, with the gates and walls of a fort.

The Pharwala Fort originally had six gates, but only five of them remain today. These too are in a severely dilapidated state. Hathi Darwaza, or Elephant Gate, is one of the largest.

A view of the fort’s crumbling boundary wall.

“Not many people come here,” one of the resident fort’s residents told Dawn. “It is not easy to reach this place and many people do not feel safe in visiting such a far-flung part of the countryside”, he added.

But perhaps it is just as well that the Pharwala Fort is off the beaten tourist track. The walls and gates of fort are already crumbling and are in desperate need of preservation work, but a deluge of visitors would definitely take its toll on the precarious condition of this historical site.

No invaders can march into the fort from the Hathi Darwaza, which is now bricked up from the inside.

One of the few surviving rooms of the old fort is now used to house cattle by the fort’s current occupants.

One of the old graves under a large banyan tree inside the fort.

The Soan River flows around the Pharwala Fort, carving out a natural boundary. — Photos by the writer

Published in Dawn, February 8th, 2015

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