The Hindu Staff Repoter

Thursday, April 13, 2007

MIRANSAHIB: A Muslim brother was reunited with his Sikh family after 60 years on Thursday.

Sheikh Aziz, a resident of Rawalakot town in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, was finally given permission to meet his Sikh family living in Miransahib, a border town on the periphery of Jammu city.

Sheikh Aziz, whose real name is Paramjeet Singh, was separated from his father in 1947. At the time of Partition, a part of the family was living in Peshawar city of North West Frontier Province, now in Pakistan, as Chhatar Singh, father of Sheikh Aziz, was posted in the State Revenue Department there while his three sons were living in Rawalakot.

Chhatar Singh could not go to PoK when the communal riots broke out to collect his three sons. He saved his life, fleeing to India, via the Wagah route.

Harbans Singh, who was born on the Indian side of the border, says, "My father often used to talk about his three sons living in Rawalakot. Some time before he died in 1985 he was finally able to trace the whereabouts of his three sons in PoK and tried to go there but his attempts failed due to the animosity between the two countries then."

His father had sought a vow from him at his deathbed that "I would find and invite my brothers living in PoK".

Jubilant at meeting one of his brothers, he says, "Today I have fulfilled the promise given to my father. It is certainly the happiest day of my life."

Sheikh Aziz has now invited Harbans Singh to meet the rest of his family in PoK. Sheikh Aziz says, "I want Harbans to meet my family living in Rawalakot."