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History of Pakistan The history of preceding the country's independence in 1947 is shared with that of Afghanistan, India, and Iran. Spanning the western expanse of the Indian subcontinent and the eastern borderlands of the Iranian plateau, the region of pre ...

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Attock Attock (Punjabi and Urdu: ), formerly known as Campbellpur (), is a historical city located in the north of Pakistan's Punjab Province, not far from the country's capital Islamabad. It is the headquarters of the Attock District and is 61st larges ...

Punjab region Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...

, image = Attock Fort - Optographer.jpg , image_size = 280px , caption = , coordinates = , map_type = Pakistan , map_size = , map_alt = , map_caption = Location within Pakistan , type = , code = , built = , builder = , materials = , height = , used = , demolished = , condition = , ownership = , open_to_public = , controlledby = , garrison = , current_commander = , commanders = , occupants = , website
www.attockonians.com
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Battle of Attock The Battle of Attock (also known as the Battle of Chuch or the Battle of Haidru) took place on 13 July 1813 between the Sikh Empire and the Durrani Empire. The battle was the first significant Sikh victory over the Durranis. Background In 18 ...

, events = , image2 = , caption2 = Attock Fort ( ur, ) was built at Attock Khurd during the reign of

Akbar Abu'l-Fath Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar (25 October 1542 – 27 October 1605), popularly known as Akbar the Great ( fa, ), and also as Akbar I (), was the third Mughal emperor, who reigned from 1556 to 1605. Akbar succeeded his father, H ...

from 1581 to 1583 under the supervision of

Khawaja Shamsuddin Khawafi Khawaja Shamsuddin Khawafi was Emperor Akbar's minister and superintendent of construction. His shrine named Hakimon ka Maqbara is located in Hasan Abdal, in Attock District. He built the fish pond and the tomb Gurdwara Panja Sahib between 1581 a ...

to protect the passage of the

River Indus The Indus ( ) is a transboundary river of Asia and a trans-Himalayan river of South and Central Asia. The river rises in mountain springs northeast of Mount Kailash in Western Tibet, flows northwest through the disputed region of Kashmir, ...

. Attock was briefly captured on 28 April 1758 by the

Maratha Empire The Maratha Empire, also referred to as the Maratha Confederacy, was an early modern Indian confederation that came to dominate much of the Indian subcontinent in the 18th century. Maratha rule formally began in 1674 with the coronation of S ...

and became the northern boundary of the Maratha Empire.

Ahmad Shah Durrani Ahmad Shāh Durrānī ( ps, احمد شاه دراني; prs, احمد شاه درانی), also known as Ahmad Shāh Abdālī (), was the founder of the Durrani Empire and is regarded as the founder of the modern Afghanistan. In July 1747, Ahm ...

recaptured Attock and halted the Maratha advance in the north permanently after the Third Battle of Panipat. It featured a prominent role in Afghan-Sikh Wars during the

History

The fort was constructed in 1581 on the orders of the Mughal Emperor Akbar. Construction was completed in two years after which the fort was used as a key defense line against Afghan invaders. The fort was captured in 1758 by Raghunath Rao, Sidhojiraje, Sabaji Shinde Gharge-Desai-Shinde (Deshmukh) and Marathas. The fort was captured in 1812 by Sikhs and the British took over the fort later. After the

Partition of India The Partition of British India in 1947 was the Partition (politics), change of political borders and the division of other assets that accompanied the dissolution of the British Raj in South Asia and the creation of two independent dominions: ...

, Pakistan Army took control of the fort. It became headquarters of the 7th division of Pakistan Army. In 1956, the fort was handed over to the Special Services Group (SSG), a special operations force of the Pak Army. Today the fort remains in control of the SSG.

Location

It is sandwiched between Peshawar Road on one side and the River

Indus The Indus ( ) is a transboundary river of Asia and a trans-Himalayan river of South and Central Asia. The river rises in mountain springs northeast of Mount Kailash in Western Tibet, flows northwest through the disputed region of Kash ...

on the other. It is located at a distance of 80km from the capital city of Islamabad. As its a military base, visitors are not allowed inside the fort.

Features

The fort consists of 4 gates and its parameter wall is 1600m long. The gates are named the Delhi gate, Lahori Gate, Kabuli Gate and Mori Gate.

References

{{Castles in Pakistan Forts in Punjab, Pakistan Attock District

History

Location

Features

See also

References