Date:26/06/2003 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2003/06/26/stories/2003062602631300.htm

Other States - Jammu & Kashmir

Brothers reunite briefly after 56 years

By Our Staff Reporter

Jammu June 25. Harbans Singh, who has just returned from a pilgrimage to Sikh holy places in the Punjab province of Pakistan is a very happy man — he finally managed to meet his brothers from whom he had been separated 56 years ago.

The family belonging to the Rawalakot part of Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir was separated during the Partition. Harbans Singh's father, who was working in a private company in the Peshawar town of the Northwest Frontier Province, was caught in the riots of 1947 and, like millions of others, had to hurriedly come to India. His wife and two sons were left behind while he, young Harbans Singh and other members of his family safely reached Jammu.

The father contacted his friends in Rawalakot on the telephone and came to know that his wife had died immediately after the Partition. After trying in vain to bring back his two sons to India, the man told a Muslim friend to look after them. The friend adopted the two boys and provided them education.

In 1982, the father, on his deathbed, took a promise from Harbans Singh to remain in contact with his two brothers, Parmjeet Singh and Bhagat Singh, and the three have since been in touch through letters.

By sheer luck, Harbans Singh's application for visa to visit shrines in Pakistan as part of a pilgrims' group was cleared recently. On reaching Lahore, he called up his two brothers, now Sheikh Abdul Aziz (63) and Sheikh Abdul (61), and they came to meet him the next day at the Panja Sahib complex.

Recounting the moment, Harbans Singh told The Hindu that they hugged each other warmly and wept.

Even the onlookers, including police personnel, could not hide their emotions, Harbans Singh said. "It was like a rebirth for the three of us. We had so much to talk."

The three brothers stayed together for four days. "It was difficult to bid farewell as we don't know when we will meet again," Mr. Singh said, tears rolling down his cheeks.