Jamrud Fort

Jamrud Fort, made of rough stonework and faced with mud plaster, was built by the Sikhs in 1823 on the site of an older fort. The famous Sikh general Hari Singh was killed in battle with Afghans nearby and is buried here. The modern stone arch across the road (Bab-e-Khyber) dates from 1964.


At its mouth the pass is wide and flat, bounded on either side by low stony hills. Every small hillock in the area is capped with a picquet manned by the Frontier Corps. In the 19th century, the soldiers used heliographs and semaphore to maintain contact. The road zigzags up past two viewpoints.
The second one has the better view back to Peshawar.


Shagai Fort, fort round the next corner, was built by the British in the 1920s and is now manned by the Frontier Corps. The road then descends down a small valley in which stand fortified Afridi houses and the Ali Masjid (Mosque). Perched high above the mosque on a commanding spur is the Ali Masjid Fort, which guards the narrowest point of the gorge and commands the entire length of the pass.

The road through the gorge is one-way, and hugs a narrow ledge beside the riverbed, overshadowed by high cliffs. Before the way was widened, two laden camels could not squeeze past each other at this point. The return road, follows a separate ledge higher up on the opposite cliff and offer less exciting views of the gorge.

The Jamrud Fort is a valued heritage site of great historical significance, harking back to
British India. It is famous for being the last known outpost of the British Empire in India,
on what was the north-west frontier, bordering Afghanistan.


The English took over the territory from the Sikh Empire. Commander-in-chief of the Sikh Khalsa
Army, Hari Singh Nalwa (1791-1837), built the Jamrud Fort. He had already conquered Kasur,
Sialkot, Attock, Multan, Kashmir, Peshawar and Jamrud. This fort was the Sikh fortification in
what was then the Afghan heartland.


It was Hari Singh Nalwa who expanded the frontiers of the Sikh empire beyond the Indus River.
Jamrud was the western boundary of the empire at the time of his death. He had established Sikh
rule in Shabqadar and Peshawar while defending the western frontiers for Maharaja Ranjit Singh.
Hari Singh built the Jamrud Fort to mark the new north-western frontiers of the Sikh Empire.


This was his base for an offensive on Kabul and it also made his position stronger against threats
from the local Pashtun tribes. Such was the strategic context when the Sikh Maharaja gave his
approval to Nalwa’s plans to establish the Jamrud Fort. The Fort became the new entrance to India.
It helped that it also fell along the road to Kabul.

These are the frontiers inherited by Pakistan. To mark his loyalty to the Maharaja, Hari Singh Nalwa laid the foundation stone of the Jamrud Fort with his own hands. His fervor was matched only by his efficiency. He took only 45 days to finish the whole edifice, employing 6,000 soldiers. The structure of the fort is inspired by the FortBala-Hissar in Peshawar. The Jamrud Fort had its security walls built 5.4m wide and 11m high.


Security towers were also built and armed with cannons. The Fort helped Nalwa assert Sikh sovereignty upon attackers from the frontiers with the central Asian lands and peoples. Built on a high mound overlooking the tribal territories of Khyber, Mohmand and Bara, it was originally named Fatehgarh. Two other forts were also constructed in Bara and Shabqadar. These helped resist attacks from Afghanistan through the Mohmand and the fearsome assaults of Afridi tribes from the valley of Tirah through the Khyber Pass.


Nalwa died in his Fatehgarh resisting an Afghan assault on the fort. Local Pashtun tribes helped
the Afghans in this campaign. During a fierce battle with Afghans, Hari Singh breathed his last
while still fighting in the Jamrud Fort. He died of serious wounds sustained in the fight