20 November, 2012
The Red fort is a witness
to the ancient history of this great city. Muzaffarabad Fort, generally known
as Red Fort, traces back a chequered history. It is said that construction of
the Fort was initially taken up by the Chuk rulers to counter the offensives of
the intruders. However, Sultan Muzaffarabad Khan, the founder of
Muzaffarabad town, finally completed it in 1646. During the Mughal rule in
Kashmir this Fort lost its importance, as they were more interested in other
parts of their empire. But when Durrani’s took over the rule of this area, it
again came into limelight and its importance was recovered.
Afterwards during the
Dogra rule of Maharaja Ghulab Singh and Maharaja Ranbir Singh, the Fort was
reconstructed and extended according to their political and militarily
requirements. However, towards the end of 1947, the Dogra’s fled away leaving
the fort wide open to anybody. Since then it has braved devastating floods,
ravage: of time, and other hazards to project its inherent glory and Historical
background.
