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PHULEWALA: In August 1947, as British India was being partitioned into two impartial states, Sikka Khan’s father and elder brother, Sadiq, left Phulewala village — which grew to become the Indian a part of Punjab — and returned to their paternal village of Bogran, which grew to become a part of Pakistan. 

Simply two-years-old on the time, Sikka was too younger to go and stayed behind in India along with his mom. The household was to be reunited quickly. The dad and mom solely wished to attend till it was secure for the toddler to journey. 

However the promise of being collectively once more was minimize brief by a bloody orgy of violence and communal rioting that marred one of many largest compelled migrations in historical past. Following the partition in 1947, about 15 million Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs, fearing discrimination and violence, swapped nations in a political upheaval that value greater than one million lives. 

It was in these circumstances that Sikka and Sadiq misplaced their father, mom — who dedicated suicide when she discovered about her husband’s dying — and the bond that was solely restored final week. 

“I instructed you we’d meet once more,” Sikka, 76, stated by tears, as he embraced his 84-year-old brother once they met in Kartarpur, Pakistan on Jan. 10.

Kartarpur is a border metropolis the place Pakistan, in late 2019, opened a visa-free crossing to permit Indian Sikh pilgrims entry to one of many holiest websites of their faith, Gurdwara Darbar Sahib. After the partition, the location discovered itself on the Pakistani aspect of the swiftly drawn-up border.

The brothers’ reunion didn’t final lengthy, as every of them needed to return to their nations. For the previous seven many years, cross-border visits have been restricted by tensions and battle.

“It was an emotional second for us, and I couldn’t consider that I used to be assembly my brother and his household,” Sikka instructed Arab Information in Phulewala village, the place he has remained since 1947. 

“Life has given me the chance to reunite with my brother and I don’t need to dwell with out him,” he stated. “I would like the corporate of my brother greater than ever earlier than. I need to dwell the remainder of my life with my elder brother.”

They bought in contact in 2019, when Pakistani YouTuber Nasir Dhillon visited Bogran village, the place Sadiq nonetheless lives, and heard his story. He shared the footage on social media and shortly acquired a message from Jagsir Singh, a physician in Phulewala, who linked him to Sikka. 

The YouTuber and the physician helped the brothers meet nearly.

“The brothers for the primary time noticed one another over a video name two years in the past,” Singh instructed Arab Information. “Since then, they’ve remained in contact with one another by WhatsApp.” 

They’ve been speaking to one another no less than quarter-hour each day, but it surely took them two years to fulfill in individual as even the visa-free Kartarpur hall was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic till late final 12 months.   

“The opening of the Kartarpur hall in November final 12 months allowed us the chance to arrange the assembly between the brothers,” Singh stated. 

When he arrived in Kartarpur on Jan. 10, Sikka, who doesn’t have his family, was accompanied by a dozen villagers from Phulewala. 

“For me, my village has been household,” he stated, as he chatted to Sadiq by a video name. “Now I need to go to Pakistan and dwell with my elder brother for a while. I hope the Pakistani authorities provides me a visa.” 

Sadiq, too, needs to go to his birthplace.   

“I need to meet Sikka in his village,” he stated through the video name along with his brother. “We need to dwell collectively and make up for the time we now have misplaced.”