Frontier Corps to vacate Balahisar Fort, hand it over to KP govt

PESHAWAR: After a series of meetings, the paramilitary Frontier Corps (FC) has reportedly agreed to vacate the historic Balahisar Fort and hand it over to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to use it for tourism purposes.

According to sources, the Prime Minister’s Office and other concerned departments are presently working on this project to shift the FC from Balahisar to the Hayatabad locality in Peshawar.

The FC has been using the fort as its headquarters. The government had allotted an entire phase in the posh Hayatabad town for relocating the FC headquarters from Balahisar to Hayatabad. The spacious complex had workshops, barracks and several houses for officers, lower staff and their families.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minister for Tourism, Culture, Archaeology and Youth Affairs, Mohammad Atif Khan said “it has principally been agreed between the government and interior ministry to vacate Balahisar fort and open it to tourists.”

According to sources, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan had raised the issue during the rule of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and demanded handing over the fort to the KP government to use it as a tourist spot like Shahi Qila in Lahore, Punjab.

The PTI at the time was ruling KP in coalition with Jamaat-i-Islami and Qaumi Watan Party. The demand was ignored after a few fruitless meetings. After assuming office of the prime minister, the sources said Imran Khan took personal interest in the issue and held a number of meetings with the concerned quarters. It was finally decided that the FC would vacate the historic fort.

However, according to sources, the FC authorities had demanded of the government to purchase 35 acre of land in Shah Kas close to their present complex in Hayatabad to meet the needs of FC. A spacious building in the same complex has been rented out to a famous private school.

The FC also wanted the government to allocate Rs2 billion for construction of building for their offices in the new FC headquarters in Shah Kas. According to Tourism Minister Mohammad Atif Khan, the federal government has agreed to procure 35 acres of land for the FC and for this purpose it had earmarked Rs350 million.

He said the federal government has also agreed to arrange Rs2 billion for construction of a building for the FC so it can shift the headquarters from Balahisar to Shah Kas.

He said the government had prepared PC-1 for the two mega projects. Senior security officials also confirmed that it has been decided at a high level forum that FC would vacate Balahisar. However, they said that no deadline has been given for the purpose. The FC would apparently like to have more space and additional building to shift the existing facilities from the present headquarters.

There is no doubt that the FC had not only preserved this old fort but also spent huge resources on its repair and beautification. It would be a great achievement if Balahisar is finally handed over to the KP government.

However, it would be a challenge for the provincial government to maintain its glory and convert it into a tourist spot. Peshawar, which has expanded haphazardly and become overcrowded, lacks parks and tourist spots.

The successive governments, including the coalition government of Awami National Party and Pakistan People’s Party, tried but failed to get Balahisar Fort vacated and turn it into a tourist destination. Tourism Minister Muhammad Atif Khan said they would utilise all their resources to preserve the fort and use it for tourism purposes and set up a restaurant on the top.