Pakistan is blessed with an amazing landscape as much as it is rich with the remains of ancient civilizations. On October 19, 2024 I went on a bike ride to one such place in the famous Soon valley, District Khsuhab. I call it the mysterious Tulaja fort because the place has no definite history. Some people consider it to be a more then 5000 years old historic site while others opine that it dates back to the time when Jalal ud Din Khawarzam visited the place.
The second opinion seems to be more convincing. In 1220 when upon the death of Ala ud Din Muhammad his son Jalal ud Din Khawarzam held reins he had a combat with the Mongol army near Kabul of today’s Afghanistan. He lost the battle and fled the area along with his soldiers and reached this area (Hindustan back then) where the local Hindu raja of the time accommodated him and provided two hideouts. One is the Tulaja Fort and the other became known as Samarkand Fort and the remains of it can be seen near Chinji in District Chakwal. Similar ruins are also found at a nearby place called Tulachi in Soon valley and it is believed that Tulachi too housed the soldiers of Jalal ud Din.
Such historic sites need proper attention by the government, they are an asset among the country’s heritage sites and should be preserved. Upon my visit I found that although TDCP has done a lot of work to improve the off-road track that connects the fort site to the main road, however a lot needs to be done at the site itself. Too many wild shrubs have grown on the mountain top and obscure the view of the fort walls that remain intact till day. The mountain top spreads on an area of about 20 acres, there were about 300 rooms here and a pond huge enough to store water for its inhabitants. The fort is located at a very strategic location; there was only one way to reach the mountain top that went through a cave and the soldiers used to close the cave entrance at night using a huge rock. The fort didn’t even need boundary walls because no one could have climbed several hundred meters high rocky mountain that substituted fort walls. I have never heard of a fort that came without walls, have you?
Tulaja fort site should be reflected in the list of world heritage sites but, unfortunate as it is, the fort drifted into a state of oblivion, perhaps since the time of its desertion. Who were the residents of Tulaja Fort, how long they remained here, what caused its destruction, what were the other cities close to it are the questions that beggar answers but there is none. This brief history along with pictures and videos by tourists, bloggers, vloggers and a few articles, is all that remains. At the site, only half standing walls remain for the world to imbibe the lesson that man is mortal.
Our ride began from my hometown Joharabad in District Khushab. After a ride of 20km we reached the mountain range and after a further ride of about 15 minutes we were at the turn where we had to start our off-road journey towards the shrine of Baba Kachi. My friend Malik Asif was my travel buddy. We parked the bike at the point where we could ride it no further because of the road condition there. We still had to do a trekking of 2km to reach the fort site. TDCP has done some work in this area about three years ago. As against 2007 when I first visited this site, the road was in a bit better condition as the rocky terrain was levelled. Also, the main approach to the fort now has proper steps as against the completely rocky path back in 2007. The mountain top, i.e., the fort site, however, was full of wild shrubs and bushes that covered most of the walls. TDCP has placed a small shed at the top for the visitors and a close by boundary now contains a fence, the fort itself had no boundary walls because its inhabitants didn’t need one. The best time to visit Soon valley and especially Tulaja fort is from mid October to December and then from February till mid March, because the trekking in the rest of the year would be either too hot or too cold. The off-road ride to the shrine site and the trekking was an amazing experience. I have done a coverage of the ride and trekking to the fort, which is available on my youtube channel “7thgear by Talal”. Soon valley is blessed with some lakes and amazing landscapes, and a few more adventures await us.
Exclusive written by Talal Hussain Malik for Automark’s December-2024 printed and digital edition.