Wednesday, 7 September 2016
SHABQADAR
fort near Peshawar
It is a more than century ago the gates were
chained to this day as a punishment, awarded by the Court martial by a Sikh
Commander.
One night, in the winter of 1840, a Pakhtun
Mohmand Tribal Lashkar attacked Shankargarh Fort, presently known as SHABQADAR
fort. The Sikh garrison of the fort, commanded by Prince Sher Singh, son of
Maharajah Ranjit Singh, had a very tough time defending the fort. During the
fighting, the Mohmands were able to break open the main gate and enter the
fort, however, the Sikhs managed to fight them off and eject them from the fort
by morning. He was upset because the gates failed to hold the enemy back and
decided to vent his anger at the structures and started trial of these gates. Two
gates of the SHABQADAR fort were chained for 100 years after they failed to
contain an attack. They incurred the wrath of the fort’s Sikh Commander.
The wooden gates of the old fort had
been tied to the tower with two heavy chains. The hapless wooden structures
which had incurred the wrath of Prince Sher Singh and General Ventura (An
Italian veteran, re-employed in Sikh army by Maharaja Ranjit Singh). Even
though the period is now over, meanwhile, the gates remain in chains to this
day.
It is learnt that Prime Minister
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was once in the vicinity during the 1970s and was asked
whether these chained gates could be freed as the hundred year imprisonment
term had already been completed. As one would have expected, Bhutto, possessing
the highest degree of wit and humour, turned down the proposal insisting the
doors to be kept chained in perpetuity, so that nobody dares to falter in their
assigned duties.
So, the gate, named “the Weeping
Willow”, is still imprisoned to this day, as both the doors of the gate, almost
20 feet tall and painted black continue to be chained to the minaret with big
chains!
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amazing as well as hilarious.
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