Rohtas Fort (Urdu: قلعہ روہتاس Qila Rohtas) is a historical garrison fort located near the city of Jhelumin Punjab, Pakistan. It was built by Sher Shah Suri, to subdue the rebellious tribes of the northern Punjab region, in 16th century. This fort is about 4 km in circumference. The Rohtas fort was built to crush the local tribes of Potohar, who rebelled against the Sur dynasty after the Mughal emperor Humayun was ousted by the former. The tribes included, Awans, Janjua Rajputs, Dhund Abbasi, Kayanis, Minhas Rajputs, Khokhars among others.
It took 8 years to built the Rohtas fort but the Rohtas fort was recaptured by local tribes and it became the capital of Gakhars. Ironically the very people it was designed to crush were actually became the sole owners of Rohtas fort and Afghans were not only defeated but they were forced to flee after accepting heavy defeat. As a consequence Afghans not only lost to local tribes of Northern Punjab but many people from Northern Punjab later inhabited Southern parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa who still live there especially in Hazara Division and are known as Hindkowans. As a consequence Afghans lost Attock and neighboring regions to Potohari tribes as well. The fort was captured by Mughal emperor Humayun in 1555. Nadir Shah, the Turkic ruler of Persia, Afghan ruler Ahmed Shah Abdali and Maratha army also camped here during their respective campaigns in the Punjab. Rohtas was also occasionally used for administrative purposes by the Sikh ruler Ranjit Singh after he captured it in 1825.
Date of Inscription on the List of UNESCO WHS: 1997
Sent on: May 12, 2014
Received on: June 3, 2014
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