Qila Darhal: Jammu's Own Saragarhi

                 It wasn’t till recently that many knew about the Battle of Saragarhi that was fought on 12 September 1897 in Kohat (now in Pakistan). Thanks to a couple of movies on the subject during the past year or so, most of us are now aware of the name, if not the exact history of that action. The battle had seen the last stand taken by 21 Sikh soldiers against thousands of Orakzai and Afridi tribesmen. That had been one precarious situation that ended with the sacrifice of all 21 soldiers. If, however, we were to swap 21 soldiers with hundreds of defenseless ladies, children and men of all ages and if we were to replace soldiers’ Lee Enfield rifles with less than 10 matchlock muskets while keeping the profile of the attackers more or less the same, we can well visualize how perilous and vulnerable the situation could become. A situation of comparation had been building up in and around a small, old and abandoned fort near Naushera whe...