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NEW DELHI: When Sikka Khan, 76, learned he had been granted a visa to Pakistan to spend two months with his older brother, he burst into tears and hugged the Pakistani embassy official in New Delhi who gave him the stamped passport.
Sikka and his 84-year-old brother, Sadiq Khan, had been separated since British India split into two independent states – India and Pakistan – in August 1947.
The partition triggered one of the largest migrations in history, forcing an estimated 15 million Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs to swap countries in a political upheaval that claimed the lives of more than a million people.
Sikka and Sadiq were finally able to meet briefly earlier this month in Kartarpur, where Pakistan opened a visa-free crossing to allow Indian Sikh pilgrims access to one of their religion’s holiest sites, Gurdwara Darbar. Sahib.
When Arab News reported their story last week, the brothers said they wanted to meet again and hoped the Pakistani and Indian governments would allow them entry. On Friday, Sikka received a Pakistani visa.
RETURNEARTH
When Arab News reported their story last week, Sikka Khan and Sadiq Khan said they wanted to meet again and hoped the Pakistani and Indian governments would allow them in.
“It’s a dream come true. It gives me so much happiness that I am staying with my brother in Pakistan for a while,” he told Arab News as he left Pakistan’s High Commission in New Delhi with a visa stamped in his passport. .
He thanked the media and “especially Arab News for picking up the case. I know without your support this visa could not have happened,” he said.
Over the past seven decades, India-Pakistan cross-border visits have been limited by tension and conflict.
The Khan brothers got in touch in 2019, when a Pakistani YouTuber, Nasir Dhillon, heard their story while visiting Bogran, their father’s village, where Sadiq still lives.
He shared the footage on social media and soon received a message from Indian doctor Jagsir Singh, who lives in Phulewala, the village where Sikka stayed with his mother after the area ended up on the Indian side of the border in 1947 .
The YouTuber and the doctor helped the brothers meet virtually. Since then, they talk on the phone at least 15 minutes a day.
“Sikka Khan was very excited when he walked into the Pakistani embassy,” Singh told Arab News. “The people at the embassy treated us like VIPs and really took care of us.”
Sikka, who has never married and has no children, said he will finally be able to reunite with his closest family. Sadiq has four sons, two daughters and 10 grandchildren.
“My mother’s soul must be relieved that I am visiting my brother’s house in Pakistan,” he said. “I will carry the message of love for my brother from Phulewala village. Everyone in the village treats him like family.
Dhillon, whose own family has also been separated by the partition, said it felt good to be a part of reunion history.
“Allah has used me for this beautiful work and it’s really very nice,” he told Arab News.
His YouTube channel, Punjabi Lehar, aims to reconnect Pakistani and Indian families who have been torn apart by the subcontinent’s split.
“My grandfather always wanted to visit his old village and meet old friends,” Dhillon said. “By connecting people, I feel like I’m fulfilling the wish of my ancestors.”
He said there was a need for the Pakistani and Indian governments to finally move on and let people on both sides of the border live peaceful lives.
“It’s the need of the hour,” he said. “Look how the world has moved on, but India and Pakistan are stuck with the baggage of history.”