/data/photo/2022/05/30/629488a5b7870.jpg "The Story of Three Brothers Reunited, 75 Years after the Partition of India-Pakistan All")
NEW DELHI, KOMPAS.com – A woman Pakistan separated from the family during the incident”Partition 1947”, met his brothers from India for the first time in 75 years.
Mumtaz Bibi was separated from her Sikh family during the chaos of 1947. It was only last April that the woman finally met her brothers Gurmukh Singh and Baldev Singh for the first time at Kartarpur Sahib Gurdwara in Pakistan.
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“We are very happy that we got to meet our sister while we were still alive,” said Gurmukh Singh as reported by BBC.
In 1947, Partition led to the creation of two independent states – India and Pakistan.
It was recorded as one of the greatest people’s movement moments in history, outside of war and famine.
Nearly 12 million people became refugees and between half a million and a million people were killed in religious violence.
“Violence is destroying us too,” said Gurmukh Singh, who is now in his mid-70s.
Their father Pala Singh had moved from Pakistan to Patiala district in the Indian state of Punjab after his wife was killed in Pakistan during violence.
“When he found out about his wife’s death, he thought his daughter was also murdered, after that he married his brother-in-law (as was the tradition in those days),” said Baldev Singh, the youngest of three children.
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But in Pakistan, Mumtaz Bibi was discovered by a Muslim couple who adopted and raised her.
“About two years ago, our son found out about our half-siblings with the help of social media,” said Baldev Singh.
Mumtaz, who was looking for a family, later spoke to Pakistani YouTuber Nasir Dhillon. The Youtuber’s Punjab Lehar channel, helped several families separated during the 1947 Partition to find each other.
To confirm their kinship, Gurmukh Singh contacted a shopkeeper in their ancestral village in the Sheikhupura district of Pakistan.
“He linked us to Mumtaz,” he said, admitting that the family was initially skeptical about his identity.
“Could it be someone else? But we gradually connected the dots, got evidence and it was established that she was our sister,” he said.
“Our happiness knows no bounds.”
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“After that, we just wanted to meet him, no matter what the cost. But there was a visa problem,” said Baldev Singh.
One possible meeting point they discussed was Kartarpur Sahib Gurdwara, the final resting place of Sikhism’s founder Guru Nanak Dev and one of the religion’s holiest sites.
Gurdwara is located in the Narowal district of Pakistan across the Ravi river, about four kilometers from the Dera Baba Nanak temple in India.
Tens of thousands of people have traveled through the Kartarpur corridor since it was inaugurated by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in November 2019, allowing rare visa-free access for Indian pilgrims.
Some families, separated during Partition 1947, can also be reunited at this place.
However, worship to Kartarpur was suspended in March 2020 due to the Covid pandemic. It only finally reopened last November.
On Sunday (24/4/2022), the brothers arrived with their families at the temple and finally met their sister who also brought along her own family.
“We hugged and cried,” recalls Baldev Singh, his eyes welling with tears at the memory. “We just don’t want to part.”
“We promised each other that we would try to get a visa as soon as possible. He has submitted his papers and we hope he will visit us soon.”
Mumtaz was raised a Muslim. Gurmukh Singh says their family had accepted this by the time they met. “When we met, we forgot everything,” he said.
“So what if our sister is of a different religion? The same blood runs through her veins. And that’s what matters to us more than anything else.”
“It’s true that we have slightly different lifestyles,” he said.
“They (in Pakistan) eat more meat while we eat less. But as Guru Nanak says ‘manas ki jaat sabhe ek pehchan bo’ (‘Accept all human beings as your neighbour’).”
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In January, another family who had also been separated for Separation of India-Pakistan met at Kartarpur Sahib Gurdwara.
Sikka Khan, who had been left in India with his mother during Partition, was able to meet his brother Sadiq Khan, who ended up living in Pakistan with their father.
In May, Sikka Khan returned to India as a happy man with his long lost brother in tow.
“Kartouarpur Sahib has allowed so many people to meet their missing relatives like us,” said Gurmukh Singh.
But he has one request for the Indian government. “They should make visiting Kartarpur Sahib and the visa process between the two countries easier.”
“It took us 75 years to meet. Now we want to meet again and again, and spend time together,” he said.
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