Bala Hissar Fort (Peshawar)

Bala Hissar (Hindko; Pashto and Urdu: قلعه بالا حصار‎), also spelt Bala Hisar, is a historic fortress located in Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. The fort was used as a royal residence for the Durrani Empire, and was renovated during Jatsikh rule. The fort now serves as headquarters for Pakistan's The fort is the provincial fort of the KPK province.

According to historian Ahmad Hasan Dani, a Chinese traveller Hiuen Tsang, when visiting Peshawar in 630 AD, found a "royal residence" and called it with Chinese word Kung Shing, which is used for its significance and is explained as fortified or walled portion of the town in which the royal palace stood. Hiuen Tsang then makes a separate mention of the city, which was not fortified. This shows that the royal residence formed the nucleus of a Citadel, which must have been further protected by a moat. Dani further says that a channel of old Bara River surrounded by a high spot, which includes the Bala Hissar and Inder Shahr. The higher area could have been the citadel, which is the present Bala Hissar.

Peshawar has always been a strategic city and its capturing and ruling over it was of great importance for the invaders and kings. "In the 11th century AD, the Hindu ruler, Raja Jaipal of the Hindushahi dynasty was defeated in the vicinity of Peshawar and Mehmud Ghaznavi garrisoned the fort with his army," says Dr Taj Ali. The British officers who visited Peshawar in the 19th century mentioned that the fort used to be a royal residence of Afghan rulers. The Bala Hissar has seen its construction and destruction by conquerors, warriors, invaders and kings on several occasions. After the overthrow of emperor Humayun by the Afghan King Sher Shah Suri, the Afghans destroyed the fort. When Hamayun was staying in it he decided to rebuild it before proceeding to Kabul. He wanted to use the fort for his conquest of India at a later stage. As his officers did not want to stay back, Hamayun himself supervised the rebuilding of the fort, which was soon completed. "The Afghan rulers named it "Bala Hissar" a Persian name meaning high fort while the Sikhs renamed and rebuilt it calling their fort "Sumergarh" in 1834 but the name did not become popular", according to Taj. The fort was constructed on a mound with commanding view of the surrounding area including Shalimar gardens presently known as Jinnah Park towards its north. This gave more prominence and grandeur to the fort. One wall of Fort Bala Hissar collapsed during the 27 October 2015 earthquake, but the wall has been reconstructed.