Ahmedpur East-UNESCO has put historical Derawar Fort on its World Heritage List tentatively as it is not run by the state. If the Punjab government manages to nationalise it without mentioning the name of Abbasi family, UNESCO will preserve the fort.
UNESCO Director Vibke Jensen stated that she will soon meet the Punjab chief minister in this regard and will discuss the issue with him. She said that UNESCO is interested in the renovation of the historical shrines of Uch Sharif but has not decided which shrine will be preserved by UNESCO in near future.
It is pertinent to mention that Derawar Fort is a large square fortress in Bahawalpur. The forty bastions of Derawar are visible for many miles in the Cholistan Desert.
Derawar Fort was built by Rai Jajja Bhatti, a Rajput ruler of the Bhatti clan. The fort was built in the 9th century AD as a tribute to Rawal Deoraj Bhatti, a Rajput sovereign king of the Jaisalmer and Bahawalpur areas who had his capital at Lodhruva. The fort was initially known as Dera Rawal, and later referred to as Dera Rawar, which with the passage of time came to be pronounced Derawar, its present name.
In the 18th century, the fort was taken over by Muslim Abbasi Nawabs of Bahawalpur from the Shahotra tribe. It was later renovated by Abbasi rulers, but in 1747 the fort slipped from their hands owing to Bahawal Khan’s preoccupations at Shikarpur. Nawab Mubarak Khan took the stronghold back in 1804.
The historically-significant fort presents an enormous and impressive structure in the heart of the Cholistan desert, but it is rapidly deteriorating and in need of immediate preventative measures for preservation.