Separated in 1947, Sikh brother, Muslim sister reunite at Kartarpur
After 75 years of separation since the Partition, a Sikh man from India and his Muslim sister from Pakistan finally reunited at Gurudwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur, reported The Express Tribune. The siblings hugged each other and kept crying as people around them, witnessing the moment, also became teary-eyed. The man, Amarjit Singh arrived in Pakistan with a visa and planned to stay back.
Why does this story matter?
The Partition of India and Pakistan had uprooted lakh of families from their homes after the demarcation of national borders based on religious lines. Tense relations prevailed between the neighbors while separated families kept longing to meet their long-lost kin. Inaugurated in November 2019, the Kartarpur Sahib Corridor provides visa-free access to the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in the Punjab province of Pakistan.
The poignant moment swept everyone around
Singh was a toddler when left behind
Singh's sister Kulsoom Akhtar (65) said that she was born in Pakistan after her parents immigrated to Pakistan from the suburbs of Jalandhar in 1947. Singh, who is wheelchair-bound now, was a toddler at the time, and was left behind along with another sister. She used to hear stories of the lost siblings and her mother used to cry remembering her missing children.
Father's friend helped find the whereabouts
A few years ago her father's friend, Sardar Dara Singh visited them from India and her mother told him about the missing kids along with the location of their village and home. The man went back and traced the lost siblings. Singh informed them that the daughter had passed away and the brother had been adopted by a Sikh family in 1947.
Kulsoom arrived with her son and other family members
The siblings contacted each other over WhatsApp and decided to meet at Gurudwara Darbar Sahib. Singh reached there via the Wagah border while Akhtar, who suffers from chronic back pain, reached there with her son Shahzad Ahmad from Faisalabad. Both the siblings brought lots of gifts for each other. Singh now plans to stay back with his sister as her guest for some time.
Fourth such reunion at Kartarpur in recent years
This is the fourth incident of siblings reuniting at Kartarpur. In August, two brothers — one Sikh and one Muslim — met after being separated while fleeing sectarian violence in 1947. In May this year, a Muslim sister from Pakistan met her Sikh brother. In November 2018, two Muslim sisters were reunited with their Sikh brother who had been left behind in India.
