Mankera

Mankera stands in the sandy Thal country between the Indus and the rivers of central Punjab. Its fort was built in stages: a brick stronghold under Baloch rulers was later surrounded by a thick earthen wall under Pashtun rule. The fortress became the seat of a regional dominion, and the Afghan prince Humayun, blinded after a failed attempt to overthrow his brother Zaman Shah, spent the rest of his life imprisoned there.

In 1821 Ranjit Singh's forces advanced on Mankera. Misr Diwan Chand besieged the fort for twenty-two days before Nawab Sarbuland Khan surrendered and withdrew to Dera Ismail Khan. The fall of the fortress brought Mankera under the Sikh government at Lahore, ending the rule of its Afghan nawabs over the town.