Muzaffarabad
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Muzaffarabad

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Muzaffarabad

Muzaffarabad is the capital and largest city of Azad Kashmir, a Pakistani-administered administrative territory in the disputed Kashmir region.

The city is located in Muzaffarabad District, near the confluence of the Jhelum and Neelum rivers. The district is bounded by the Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the west, the Kupwara and Baramulla districts of Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir in the east, and the Neelum District in the north.

Muzaffarabad was founded in 1646 by Sultan Muzaffar Khan, chief of the Bomba tribe who ruled Kashmir. Khan also constructed the Red Fort that same year for the purpose of warding off incursions from the Mughal Empire.

In 1827, Raja Zabardast Khan, who had succeeded his father Hassan Ali Khan as the Raja of Muzaffarabad, led a guerrilla campaign against the Sikh Empire, targeting their garrisons in Handwara, Baramulla, and the Hazara region. His leadership and strategic strikes disrupted Sikh control in the area.

Gathering a sizable force, Zabardast Khan declared independence and planned an invasion of the Kashmir Valley. In response, Diwan Kirpa Ram led a large Khalsa army to suppress the rebellion. Between Baramulla and Muzaffarabad, across a span of nearly 77 miles, Zabardast Khan's forces—supported by the local Muslim population—launched persistent attacks on the advancing Sikh army, employing guerrilla tactics from caves, rocks, and forests. The Sikh forces suffered heavy casualties, and Diwan Kirpa Ram's army faced serious defeats and significant losses.

On 28 May 1849 James Abbott, at the time boundary commissioner, wrote that "intelligence received from Cashmere that a Jumboo Force of 4,000 men is about to march to Moozuffurabad, where there are already 3,000. This report may be a feint of the Maharaja to overcome the hill tribes, who, though quite peaceful at present, have been much opprest [sic] and are ready enough to rise when opportunity offers."

Abbott also wrote that it is "highly desirable therefore that this report, which has greatly alarmed them and may drive them to desperation, be contradicted; and I have accordingly addrest the Maharaja disclaiming belief in such a rumour, and assuring him that any movement of troops in this direction at this moment will not have a friendly aspect. The assembly of any force upon the frontier were an encouragement to the insurgents in Mooltan and to others who are disposed to join them."

The following day on 29 May Abbott wrote:

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