A Crazy Story From Partition

[mrggg123]

Last Updated: Friday, 5 December, 2003, 13:31 GMT

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Reunion heals partition wounds

By Zulfiqar Ali

BBC correspondent in Muzaffarabad

Harbans Kore hugs daughter Zeenat Bibi at the reunion

A 77-year-old Indian woman who has had two homelands, two husbands and two religions has finally brought her family together after decades of separation.

"My wish was to see my children again once in my lifetime and my wish has come true," said Harbans Kore at the family reunion in Pakistan.

Ms Kore, a Sikh, had travelled from the Indian city of Ahmedabad to meet the Muslim son and daughter she had not seen for more than 40 years.

Ms Kore's story began at the time of the partition of India and the creation of Pakistan in 1947.

She and her husband were Kashmiri Sikhs living in the village of Pataika, 16 kilometres (11 miles) north-east of Muzaffarabad in what is now Pakistan-controlled Kashmir.

Tensions between Muslims and those Hindus and Sikhs still living in the area were such that after a few years Ms Kore's husband fled to India.

I wish she could stay with us but she cannot because she has to go back. She has a family there also

Zeenat Bibi, daughter

She was left behind.

Assuming the husband had gone forever, Ms Kore converted to Islam, marrying a Muslim man named Hadayatullah.

Together they had a son, Manzoor Hussein Awan, and a daughter, Zeenat Bibi.

But in the mid-1950s, Ms Kore was forced to leave for India under an agreement between Islamabad and Delhi to reunite women with their original families. That was when her separation from daughter Zeenat and son Manzoor began.

In India, Ms Kore re-converted to Sikhism and had another two daughters and a son with her first husband.

Telephone contact

For many years, the members of the divided family did not know of each other's whereabouts or even if they were alive.

Then seven years ago Zeenat, now 53, and her brother, 48, found out through a relative that their mother was still alive.

Brothers in arms Dalveer Singh and Manzoor Hussein Awan

"It was just two years ago that we were able to locate her telephone number and then we spoke by telephone, wrote letters and exchanged pictures," said Zeenat.

The family wanted to meet immediately but heightened tension between the now nuclear rivals India and Pakistan prevented it.

It was not until the recent thaw and the resumption of a bus service between the Pakistani city of Lahore and India's capital, Delhi, in July that their dreams were realised.

Ms Kore finally crossed back into Pakistan last week, accompanied by her Sikh son, Dalveer Singh, and her daughter-in-law.

They were greeted by Zeenat and Manzoor, along with grandchildren and other family members, at the Wagah border crossing.

One of Ms Kore's Sikh daughters joined the reunion this week, along with the daughter's husband and own daughter.

Ancestral village

Ms Kore said: "It is lovely to see my children after all these years. I am lucky to see my son and daughter and my grandchildren again after such a long time and I feel so happy."

Until seven years ago the divided family had had no contact

Ms Kore and other family members are staying with her family in Muzaffarabad until the middle of December.

But one person Ms Kore could not be reunited with was her Muslim husband - he died two years after she left for India.

Ms Kore wants to show her ancestral village to her Indian children but is not sure if the authorities in Muzaffarabad will allow her to go there.

Zeenat said: "We know how we suffered all these years and how badly we missed our mother. I wish she could stay with us but she cannot because she has to go back. She has a family there also."

Her only other regret was that her mother could not attend the wedding of her son last October.

She invited the family but they could not get the visas or bus tickets in time.

Manzoor said of the reunion: "We have been deprived of our mother's love and affection for more than four decades and now we are so happy to meet our mother and family.

"It is the first time in my life I have found this happiness. Everybody is happy - my wife, my children, my sister and every member of our family that we are together again."

Have any people here got relatives in pakistan?

[proactive]

The crazy thing in the story is the in all likelihood the lady did not convert by choice but was forced to convert and hence the reason why she had to be sent to India under the agreement against abducted women between the two governments. What that lady suffered in Pakistan was no different to what lakhs of others suffered and what the Yazidis are suffering today.

[mrggg123]

happened in my family, but my family didnt want my girl relatives back, so sad...

[mrggg123]

So cute :')

Respect for Bibi ji's son and daughter. They are really honorable Muslims who respect their mother and are happy to have her amongst them.

also you respect the bibiji for reverting back to her original faith after her forced conversion?

[Koi]

Truth is often stranger than fiction...

[Jonny101]

Tragic story of this woman. But at least now she and her children have been re united. Partition was a huge mistake and disaster in the social fabric of Punjab. Nothing like this has ever happened in the history of Punjab. A million people dead, countless women abducted and raped, so many children turned into orphans. We can't even imagine the amount of suffering this partition caused on both sides of the border.

[mrggg123]

Where does it say she was forced to convert?

lol

well she was young and it was either that or die? A young sikh girl in a 100% azad kashmir muslim population, would she be allowed to stay sikh? You tell me son?! You must have seen this in history its well documented :biggrin2: you every read the history of punjab? Its not just sikh people saying this people from outside have observed forced conversions for centuries. Do you know where raja and chowdhury comes from? People from kashmir and mirpur are so proud of these two castes, who were their ancestors?

I really didnt know pakistani punjabis like you existed, i.e hypocrites who deny everything but now I know there are bad apples like you. I heard on the radio one muslim guy from faislabad he said hes proud that his family originate from jahalandhar and hindustan,he knows his roots and he would be happy for his son or daughter to marry a non muslim and he wouldnt like to convert them, he says hes not a perfect muslim... This is a true punjabi not a fake which has been brainwashed by pathans and arabs lol

[StarStriker]

well she was young and it was either that or die? A young sikh girl in a 100% azad kashmir muslim population, would she be allowed to stay sikh? You tell me son?! You must have seen this in history its well documented :biggrin2: you every read the history of punjab? Its not just sikh people saying this people from outside have observed forced conversions for centuries. Do you know where raja and chowdhury comes from? People from kashmir and mirpur are so proud of these two castes, who were their ancestors?

I really didnt know pakistani punjabis like you existed, i.e hypocrites who deny everything but now I know there are bad apples like you. I heard on the radio one muslim guy from faislabad he said hes proud that his family originate from jahalandhar and hindustan,he knows his roots and he would be happy for his son or daughter to marry a non muslim and he wouldnt like to convert them, he says hes not a perfect muslim... This is a true punjabi not a fake which has been brainwashed by pathans and arabs lol

Yea bro, i also heard that faisalabad fellow, he came on the asian network on monday, on nihals show.

[Jonny101]

You would be surprised to know how many Pakistanis actually believe that Pakistanis did not kill any Sikhs and Hindus while believing that all the violence that took place only happened in east Punjab at the hands of the Sikhs. I know a Pakistani Muslim man who is very friendly with me. Actually he is of Sikh ancestry. His Sikh grand father was a wealthy land owner in Faislabad/Lailpur. During partition he decided to convert to Islam instead of losing his huge land holdings. He told me that while he was young he was always taught that Muslims never killed Sikhs during partition and all the violence happened only by the Sikhs in east Punjab. But then one day he had a talk with his grand father who dispelled this myth and told him the truth. He told him that during partition Sikhs and Hindus were chopped like Gaajar & Moolis all over west Punjab. And it was because of this that the whole Sikh population left for east Punjab while some Sikhs(like his grand father) who did not want to leave had to become Muslim. The only Sikhs that were safe were the ones who lived in the tribal Pashtun territory of FATA where the Pathan tribals would not let Muslim league men touch any Sikh.

[mrggg123]

You would be surprised to know how many Pakistanis actually believe that Pakistanis did not kill any Sikhs and Hindus while believing that all the violence that took place only happened in east Punjab at the hands of the Sikhs. I know a Pakistani Muslim man who is very friendly with me. Actually he is of Sikh ancestry. His Sikh grand father was a wealthy land owner in Faislabad/Lailpur. During partition he decided to convert to Islam instead of losing his huge land holdings. He told me that while he was young he was always taught that Muslims never killed Sikhs during partition and all the violence happened only by the Sikhs in east Punjab. But then one day he had a talk with his grand father who dispelled this myth and told him the truth. He told him that during partition Sikhs and Hindus were chopped like Gaajar & Moolis all over west Punjab. And it was because of this that the whole Sikh population left for east Punjab while some Sikhs(like his grand father) who did not want to leave had to become Muslim. The only Sikhs that were safe were the ones who lived in the tribal Pashtun territory of FATA where the Pathan tribals would not let Muslim league men touch any Sikh.

lets be fair was it more muslims converting sikhs or vice versa? I know some muslims converted to sikihi, especially in a bhullar village (I read this somewhere)