PARTITION-RELATED STORIES
*Brother, sister meet after Partition, Tribune
The brother and sister, who had survived the 1947 holocaust together, had
travelled from their native Manak Majra
village, near Mandi Gobindgarh,
to
Narrating their tale of horror, Mohammad Ramzan said Gafurana was married to Ibraham
of Mohi Khurd village and
had gone to her maternal home at the time the country was being divided into
two. A mother of four children, Gafurana had to
travel along with her brother to
"Had it not been for my brother's love for me and the respect for my
feelings, I would not have been able to spend my life with the family I loved
so much," Gafurana said. Her brother, who was
accompanied by 68-year-old younger brother Pir Bakash, said it took 60 years for him to meet his sister,
whom he always loved like a daughter.
Pir Bakash, who was very
young at the time of Partition, said they had been trying for the past several
years to get a visa to visit their sister at Mohi Khurd village. Their younger sister Bashiran
(60) and her 33-year-old son Zahid, who also came
here, were fascinated to meet their relatives for the first time in their lives.
Majid Khan, Gafurana's youngest son, said they had mixed feelings of sorrow and happiness to meet their relatives from across the border. "Though we had been writing letters to one another over the years, meeting in person is a feeling that is hard to define," said an emotional Majid. He, however, expressed dismay that his relatives had been granted restricted visa because of which they would not be able to stay here for long.
Ramzan,
Pir Bakash, Bashiran and Zahid were also
disappointed that due to the visa restriction. They said they were not able to
visit the Ajmer Shariff shrine and other important
shrines of religious importance.