Date:06/08/2004 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2004/08/06/stories/2004080606350100.htm

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Manmohan's birthplace to be model village

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD, AUG. 5. Pakistan tonight announced that the birthplace of the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, would be declared a "model village" as a gesture of goodwill.

"Prime Minister Ch. Shujaat Hussain has directed the Punjab Government to declare village Gah in District Chakwal — birthplace of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh — as a model village and the Government Boys Primary School at Gah as the `Manmohan Singh Government Boys Primary School,' as a gesture of goodwill to strengthen the peace process between Pakistan and India," an official statement said here.

Dr. Singh's family migrated to the Indian side of Punjab before Partition.

When he became Prime Minister in May, there were celebrations in the Pakistani village where he was born and attended the primary school.