For Pak fort, quake succeeds where invaders failed

“Enemies always failed to undermine this fort but we are helpless against nature,” Mehmood ul Hasan, director of PoK’s information department, said as he surveyed the ruins of the devastated city’s main historical site.

The epicenter of the 7.6 magnitude earthquake was just 10 km or so to the north. When the quake hit, many parts of the fort’s thick walls of oval-shaped river stones and pinkish mortar crumbled, spilling out onto a main road running along one of its sides. Six of its eight battlements and three ramparts have been destroyed.

The main gates to the heart of the fort are locked and in the chaos after the quake, no one knows who has the key, but nimble visitors can scramble up a pile of collapsed wall stones, squeeze along a ledge and enter along a rampart. All of the fort’s corners, where torches were once fixed to light it, have collapsed. What was once a stable where more than 100 horses were kept has been reduced to rubble where stray dogs roam. —Reuters