Story of Two Brothers Who Reunited After 75 Years

Today seventy-six years have passed since the partition of the Pak-Indo subcontinent happened. The incident of independence has a special place in the heart of every resident of that independent place, but getting sovereignty is not easy. Stories of enthusiasm, interest, surprise, joy, fear, anger, bloodshed, and disgust are always present behind the independence of a country.

Similarly, during the partition of the continent, thousands of families were divided from their family members. One such story is of two brothers Sadiq Khan from Pakistan and Sika Khan from India. The two brothers have met recently after 75 years of being torn apart after the splitting of the countries in 1947. The Sikh man Sika was only six months of age when he got separated from his elder brother Sadiq Khan, after Britain divided the region at the end of the era of colonial authority. This year both of the countries are going to celebrate the 77th anniversary of partition. Two independent countries, Pakistan and India, were made after the communal massacres by separatists who slaughtered almost one million individuals during partition, and thousands of families were separated. The oppressed father and sister of two brothers Sadiq Khan and Sika Khan were also brutally killed in cruel bloodshed. During all this, ten years old brother Sadiq Khan somehow managed to escape to Pakistan. Their mother did not endure the pain of losing her loved ones, so she jumped into a nearby river and took her life. After growing up, Sika knew that the only surviving member of his family: his brother was still alive, somewhere. Sika had a wish to meet his brother, but he was helpless in this matter. Three years back, a person from the neighbourhood showed his helping hand to Sika. After much hard effort, a Pakistani YouTuber named Nasir Dhillon made the reunion of the two brothers feasible. Finally, this year in January, Sadiq and Sika met for the first time after the partition when Sika was on a visit to Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur (a gurdwara in Kartarpur, located in Shakargarh, Narowal District) in the Punjab province of Pakistan. Indian Sikh pilgrims can visit their holy place in Pakistan through the Kartarpur corridor: a rare, visa-free crossing. The symbol of harmony and hope of reconciliation for disconnected relatives: Kartarpur corridor opened in 2019 for Indians, despite the lingering hostilities between the two nations. During an interview, Sika said,

I am from India, and he is from Pakistan, but we have a lot of love for each other.

He also added,

We hugged each other and screamed so much when we met for the first time. Both countries can keep on opposing, but we don't care about India-Pakistan politics.

The famous Pakistani Youtuber Nasir Dhillon and his friend Bhupinder Singh have made the reunion possible, of about 300 families through his YouTube channel. The Youtuber said that he does not do this to get money but he finds pleasure in doing so. He said,

I feel like these stories are my own stories or stories of my grandparents, so helping all these elders, I feel like I am fulfilling the desires of my grandparents.

He said that after hearing about the story of Sadiq and Sika, he was already determined to reunite them with everything possible. The scene of the Khan brothers meeting up at Kartarpur was too emotional, as every eye witnessing the reunion cried a lot. A large population of people belonging to different sects: Muslims, Hindus, and Sikhs escaped to their particular regions after the dismantling of the British empire by the administrators in 1947. Muslims fled to Pakistan, while Hindus and Sikhs fled oppositely. During the incident of partition, more than ten thousand ladies were raped, about one million people were killed, and caravans taking refugees between the two recently formed nations arrived full of corpses. Although both nations have strong cultural and linguistic ties to this day, there is a kind of rivalry between the nuclear-armed neighbors.

Let's wait till the love crosses the borders.

Disclaimer: The story has already been published on other platforms.