It could be any other village in the mountains—terraced field with gentle slopes, a river cutting through it. But Balakot in Manshera district of Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has a dubious distinction. It has been chosen not once but at least twice by fundamentalists as the base to launch ‘jihad‘. And before the Indian Air Force struck on the morning of 26 February, it was Sikh warrior-king Ranjit Singh who did the job—smashing Islamic fundamentalists in a bloody battle way back in 1831.

Balakot: the original launchpad for militants

In the early 19th Century, a man named Syed Ahmed Barelvi started rising to prominence in what today is northern India. Born into the Sufi faith in Rae Bareli (present-day Uttar Pradesh), Barelvi would soon veer towards the Sunni philosophy, eventually becoming one of the leaders of the Islamic Revivalist movement, also known as Wahhabism. He travelled across the region, preaching Islam and exhorting a return to its purist roots. His end goal: establish a Caliphate—a state governed by Islamic Sharia law. For Syed Ahmed Barelvi, the means to this end was jihad: the Holy War.

A jihad against the Sikh Empire

After gaining considerable influence across India, Syed Ahmed Barelvi arrived in Peshawar in 1826. There, with the help of another Islamic scholar, Maulana Ismail Dehlvi, he declared jihad against the Sikh Empire. Barelvi’s army of ‘mujahidin’ fought multiple battles against the Sikhs, without much luck. Eventually, resistance from local Pukhtun tribes forced Barelvi closer towards Kashmir. He set up base in Balakot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. In a letter to his ally, the Nawab of Tonk, Barelvi wrote:

“Since Balakot is located at a secure place (surrounded by hills and bounded by the river), God willing, the infidels will not be able to reach us. Of course, we may choose to advance and enter into a battle at our own initiative. And this we intend to do in the next two or three days. With the help of God, we will be victorious. If we win this battle, and, God willing, we will, then we will occupy all the land alongside the Jehlum River including the Kingdom of Kashmir.”

Barelvi believed he could defeat the Sikhs and march on to Kashmir. Barelvi was wrong.

The attack on Balakot

According to some accounts, the Sikh army camped on a hilltop near Balakot. Barelvi played the waiting game—luring them into the open. He flooded the rice fields with water to slow them down, should they attack. For days, both sides waited for the other to make a move. Then, one day, in a tragi-comic sequence of events, one of Barelvi’s men lost his mind, and lured by an image of a ‘hoori’—a woman in red, charged down the hill! He was shot and the battle began—guns, swords and then hand-to-hand. Before the day was over, Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s men had trounced the mujahidin. Barelvi, who wanted to conquer Kashmir and establish a Caliphate, was beheaded.

Nearly 200 years later, Balakot would be picked again as a launchpad for terror.

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