Skardu Fort or Kharpocho ( Balti:; ur, قلعہ سکردو) means ''The king of Forts'' is a fort in

Skardu , nickname = , motto = , image_skyline = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Gilgit Baltistan#Pakistan , pushpin_label_position ...

city in

Gilgit-Baltistan Gilgit-Baltistan (; ), formerly known as the Northern Areas, is a region administered by Pakistan as an administrative territory, and constituting the northern portion of the larger Kashmir region which has been the subject of a dispute bet ...

region of

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

. Australian mountaineer and film maker

Greg Child Greg Child (born 12 April 1957) is an Australian-born rock climber, mountaineer, author and filmmaker. He has authored several books: ''Thin Air: Encounters in the Himalayas'', ''Mixed Emotions: Mountaineering Writings of Greg Child'', ''Postcard ...

writes that the fort is "perched above the junction of the rivers" and overlooks the Rock of Skardu.

History

The fort was built by the king Ali Sher Khan Anchan in the end of the sixteenth century.

General Zorawar Singh Zorawar Singh (1784–12 December 1841) was a military general of the Dogra Rajput ruler, Gulab Singh of Jammu. He served as the governor (''wazir-e-wazarat'') of Kishtwar and extended the territories of the kingdom by conquering Ladakh and B ...

of the

Dogra Rajput The term Dogra Rajput refers to Dogra people who are of Rajput clans found in the Jammu region and parts of Himachal Pradesh and Punjab. Dogra Rajput dynasty ruled Jammu and Kashmir till 1947. Hari Singh was the last ruler of this dynasty. The ...

clan working under

Maharaja Gulab Singh Gulab Singh Jamwal (1792–1857) was the founder of Dogra dynasty and the first Maharaja of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, the largest princely state under the British Raj, which was created after the defeat of the Sikh Empire in th ...

realized the importance of the fort's location in the town and so he occupied the fort. It was part of his many military campaigns to annex the areas of

Baltistan Baltistan ( ur, ; bft, སྦལ་ཏི་སྟཱན, script=Tibt), also known as Baltiyul or Little Tibet ( bft, སྦལ་ཏི་ཡུལ་།, script=Tibt), is a mountainous region in the Pakistani-administered territory of Gilg ...

to the

princely state A princely state (also called native state or Indian state) was a nominally sovereign entity of the British Raj, British Indian Empire that was not directly governed by the British, but rather by an Indian ruler under a form of indirect rule, ...

Jammu and Kashmir Jammu and Kashmir may refer to: * Kashmir, the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent * Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), a region administered by India as a union territory * Jammu and Kashmir (state), a region administered ...

. The fort was razed to the ground in 1857 under the guidance of Ranbir Singh. Mughal emperor

Aurangzeb Muhi al-Din Muhammad (; – 3 March 1707), commonly known as ( fa, , lit=Ornament of the Throne) and by his regnal title Alamgir ( fa, , translit=ʿĀlamgīr, lit=Conqueror of the World), was the sixth emperor of the Mughal Empire, ruling ...

also tried to occupy the fort, which went in vain.

First Kashmir War

During the

First Kashmir War First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

on 1947, Jammu and Kashmir State Forces were deployed inside the fort under the command of Lt. Col.

Sher Jung Thapa Brigadier Sher Jung Thapa Maha Vir Chakra, MVC (15 April 1907 – 25 February 1999) was a military officer of the Jammu and Kashmir State Forces and later the Indian Army. Revered as ''the Hero of Skardu'', he was a recipient of the Indian Army ...

. The

Gilgit Scouts The Gilgit Scouts constituted a paramilitary force of the Gilgit Agency in northern Jammu and Kashmir. They were raised by the government of British India in 1913, on behalf of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, to police the northern front ...

and rebel troops of the State Forces, under the command of Pakistan Army, laid siege to the fort. On 11 February 1948, the Pakistani forces battled with the Skardu garrison of the fort. After a six-hour-long battle between the two, the attackers retreated. They came again on 14 February directing "harassing fire into the fort". The siege lasted more than six months. Finally, having exhausted ammunition and rations, the Kashmir forces left the fort in small batches on 13 August 1948. The fort succumbed on the 14 August. All the remaining men were reportedly killed by the invaders, except for Col. Thapa and his Sikh orderly, who were taken prisoner. Skardu became part of the Pakistan-controlled Kashmir, eventually renamed

Inside Pakistan

American mountaineers Robert Bates and Charles Houston write that they were "lavishly entertained" as they visited the fort.

Gallery

The Mighty Kharpocho Fort Skardu.jpg THOMSON(1852) p010 ISKARDO.jpg, The

Skardu , nickname = , motto = , image_skyline = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Gilgit Baltistan#Pakistan , pushpin_label_position ...

Valley as seen from the Fortress SkarduFromFort1175.JPG, Skardu Town of today as seen from the Fortress SkarduFortEntrance1167.JPG, Entrance to the Skardu Fort MosqueSkarduFort1160.JPG, The ancient

mosque A mosque (; from ar, مَسْجِد, masjid, ; literally "place of ritual prostration"), also called masjid, is a place of prayer for Muslims. Mosques are usually covered buildings, but can be any place where prayers ( sujud) are performed, ...

at the fort 1924 photo of the Mosque in Skardu Fort.jpg, A 1924 photo of the Mosque in Skardu Fort

References

External links