Wagah (Amritsar), June 22: Jammu-based Harbans Singh, one of the members of Sikh jatha, that returned here today, tells a passionate story of reunion with his kin across the border who were separated from him at the time of partition in 1947. Singh, who crossed over to Pakistan along with the jatha in a wheel chair since he was unable to walk, said he met his long-separated brothers, who also came to see him off at the border.

Singh claimed that he and his brothers got separated on either side of the border at the time of partition during during communal riots.

Singh was the resident of Ravalkot, now in Pak-occupied Kashmir. At the time of partition, he came to India along with his father. But the communal riots held him and his father here and they never returned home in Pakistan.

According to Singh, his three brothers in Pakistan had to adopt Islam due to the prevailing circumstances there. Singh, who was in touch with his brothers, had informed them of his travelling with the jatha.

"Paucity of time did not permit me to spend enough time with my long-parted brothers. Neither the Indian embassy in Pakistan nor the Pak embassy in India allowed us to visit each other. It was only with the jatha that I got a chance to visit Pakistan to see my brothers," Singh said.

"My brothers wanted to take me to our ancestral home in Ravalkot to refresh old memories, but time was the main constraint".

"Now my parted kin in Pakistan would try to get visas to visit me since the bus service is resuming between India and Pakistan," Singh said.

Bureau Report