Pakistan born today for family reunited after 63 years
SUKKUR:
“Humare liye to duniya aaj bani hai, Pakistan abhi janma hai!” exclaimed Asghari, as she told the media that she has found her brother after 63 years. [For us, the world was created today, Pakistan came into being today.]
Aghari’s brother, Ghulam Sarwar, was separated from the family while they were migrating from village Sanpat in India as soon as Partition was announced in 1947.
Their father, Abdullah Rajpur Chohan, also lost a daughter, Noorun Nisa, during the riots but she was never found. He came to Pakistan with his remaining son, Fazal Din, and his three daughters, Asghari, Rafiqan and Shafiqan and set up a house in Moro.
Their mother died while the daughters were young and so did their only brother. Rafiqan was married to a family in Moro, Shafiqan to a family in Sarhad, near Pannu Aqil, while Asghari was destined to be married to a family in Mehrabpur, Naushero Feroz, where her long-lost brother was residing.
Chohan was hopeful that he would find his eldest son, so he told his daughters to look for scars on his leg and his scalp if they ever found someone claiming to be their brother.
Ghulam Sarwar, who is now almost 70 years old, was named Sher Din by his real father but when Wali Muhammad found him on the train, he decided to give him a new name. Wali Muhammad died on that train journey so Sarwar was brought up by his aunt.
Sarwar lived on Bhirya Road and migrated to Mehrabpur in 1969. The next year, he was married to an Arain, which was his adopted caste, and inherited five acres from his grandmother.
When Asghari moved into the neighbourhood, she developed close ties with Sarwar’s family and spent 40 years living in the same neighbourhood without realising that he was her brother.
It was only when they narrated the Partition ordeal and the event that they witnessed that the truth hit them. The sisters narrated the signs that their father had asked them to look for only to confirm that their family had at last breunited.
“I am very happy to meet my sisters and I am telling my children now, as I had avoided this detail before this,” Sarwar told the media. He told his sisters that he had struggled in his life and started working very early.
The sisters revealed that they were surprised to find their brother as they still believed that he must be in India.
(with additional reporting by hira siddiqui)
Published in the Express Tribune, June 5th, 2010.
“Humare liye to duniya aaj bani hai, Pakistan abhi janma hai!” exclaimed Asghari, as she told the media that she has found her brother after 63 years. [For us, the world was created today, Pakistan came into being today.]
Aghari’s brother, Ghulam Sarwar, was separated from the family while they were migrating from village Sanpat in India as soon as Partition was announced in 1947.
Their father, Abdullah Rajpur Chohan, also lost a daughter, Noorun Nisa, during the riots but she was never found. He came to Pakistan with his remaining son, Fazal Din, and his three daughters, Asghari, Rafiqan and Shafiqan and set up a house in Moro.
Their mother died while the daughters were young and so did their only brother. Rafiqan was married to a family in Moro, Shafiqan to a family in Sarhad, near Pannu Aqil, while Asghari was destined to be married to a family in Mehrabpur, Naushero Feroz, where her long-lost brother was residing.
Chohan was hopeful that he would find his eldest son, so he told his daughters to look for scars on his leg and his scalp if they ever found someone claiming to be their brother.
Ghulam Sarwar, who is now almost 70 years old, was named Sher Din by his real father but when Wali Muhammad found him on the train, he decided to give him a new name. Wali Muhammad died on that train journey so Sarwar was brought up by his aunt.
Sarwar lived on Bhirya Road and migrated to Mehrabpur in 1969. The next year, he was married to an Arain, which was his adopted caste, and inherited five acres from his grandmother.
When Asghari moved into the neighbourhood, she developed close ties with Sarwar’s family and spent 40 years living in the same neighbourhood without realising that he was her brother.
It was only when they narrated the Partition ordeal and the event that they witnessed that the truth hit them. The sisters narrated the signs that their father had asked them to look for only to confirm that their family had at last breunited.
“I am very happy to meet my sisters and I am telling my children now, as I had avoided this detail before this,” Sarwar told the media. He told his sisters that he had struggled in his life and started working very early.
The sisters revealed that they were surprised to find their brother as they still believed that he must be in India.
(with additional reporting by hira siddiqui)
Published in the Express Tribune, June 5th, 2010.