As the Punjab archaeology department grapples with fund deficits and a staff shortage, the historic sites in the province are fading out quickly.

The hilly terrain of the Salt Range is dotting with centuries old sites. The prettiest of them is called the Malot fort. At a distance of 40km from Chakwal city, the Malot Fort is located at a hillock in the Malot village.

The road going towards Malot is in a good shape. Thanks to a cement factory that at least turned a rundown road into a well constructed one.

The factory is situated roughly 3km before the Malot village, but once the factory is crossed, one has to bear the jumpy and rundown patch of the road, which leads to the Malot village.

As one enters the village, the first site to catch the eyes is a pond, having a banyan tree on its right bank. The pond and the banyan tree testify that this village was once inhibited by Hindus.

The rock-strewn Malot village is a walled hamlet. Life in this sleepy village remains quiet and calm. Exiting from the other corner of the village, by moving upside, one is greeted by the ruins of the Malot Fort.

It was the rebellious Janjua king, Raja Ajmal Dev Janjua, the son of Raja Dhrupet Dev, who first converted to Islam.

After his conversion, he followed the Islamic code of names and renamed himself as Raja Mal Khan.

Securing his own empire, he conquered the Koh-e-Jodh, a mountain in the Salt Range, in 12th century and made Rajgarh his capital. This Rajgarh was renamed as Malot.

The historians present varying accounts of Raja Mal Khan's conversion.

Some say that it was his love for Islamic teaching and the saints that drove him to the net of Islam, while others say that it was an attempt to save himself and his emirate from the rage of Afghan invader, Shahabudin Ghauri.

Every foreign invader at that time, from Alexander the Great to the Mughal king Babar, used to pass through the Salt Range, whenever they were instigated by the lust to capture the throne of Delhi.

Thus, it was the Janjua kings who had to tackle the foreign adventurers, first.

According to the historians, being a new convert, Raja Mal Khan was spared by the mighty army of Ghauri.

For the time being, Raja Mal rested in ease, but a more violent and adventurous passion emanated from this temporary ease as he re-conquered the Salt Range and regained the glory, which his ancestors lost to the Turk invader, Sultan Mahmud Ghaznavi, two centuries ago.

Stocked with fresh passion of triumph, he advanced towards Multan, along with his Gakhar allies, and defeated Multan's governor appointed by Ghauri.

He, then, moved to Lahore, successfully captured it and also blocked the strategic road between Punjab and Ghazni.

After the death of Raja Mal, his siblings kept on their rebellion against the rulers of Delhi, until the Janjuas were defeated by Ranjit Singh.

The Malot Fort remained the centre of power of the Janjua Empire till the early years of the 19th century.

The fort was built during the 10th century. The remains of the fort show that, while constructing the fort with local red stones, the architects of that time were on their best in mingling the Kashmiri and Greek style of architecture together.

As the ravages of time kept deteriorating the fort, it received the worst blow, few years ago, when the hill on which the fort is located became a victim of coal mining.

The mining, however, was banned by the Lahore High Court, but the Punjab archaeology department is yet to preserve the remains of the fort.

An idea was floated, some years ago, that the fort could be preserved by shifting it to a safer place, and that place was supposed to be the Katas Raj Temples complex, but unfortunately that idea has not been realised, yet.

When contacted, the deputy director of Punjab archaeology department, Afzal Khan, claimed that his department would soon take some steps to preserve the remains of the Malot Fort. “I have asked our concerned officer in Jhelum to submit a detailed report about the plight of Malot Fort,” he said, while talking to Dawn.

He confirmed that his department was facing financial issues and a dearth of staff.