| TAXILA, April 14: A senior Sikh pilgrim from India has urged the Pakistani government to allow him to see his birthplace in Jhelum where he spent his childhood and played in the street before partition in 1947. Nidhan Singh, 86, said it was his last wish to visit his birthplace and meet his friends with whom he once played. Talking to Dawn at Gurdwara Punja Sahib on Wednesday he said, "at the time of partition we left our home and took only some clothes and told our Muslim neighbours that we will return as soon as the situation gets normal, but we never came back." Narrating his tale with tears rolling down from his eyes he said that it was his last wish to see his old house, streets and friends. He said he remembered the days when he along with his friends and school mates used to swim in river Jehlum and enjoy cool breeze. He said he was studying in grade 7 when the partition took place. He said first his family temporarily stayed in Rajhastan to wait for normalisation of the situation but later settled in Ludhiana. He said that despite his strong wish to see and touch his "first motherland", he could not get visa for 64 years. But luckily this year he got visa for Pakistan on the eve of Besakhi. He said visa restrictions, rules and conditions were main obstacles for scores of Sikhs who wanted to visit their birthplace in various cities of Pakistan. Surwinder Kaur, daughter of Mr Singh standing beside him, said her father was very curious to visit his ancient village where he spent early days of his life which he had not forgotten even today. Mr Singh appealed to President Asif Ali Zardari to allow him to visit his ancestral place. Meanwhile, Sikh yatrees visiting Gurdawara Punja Sahib expressed satisfaction over the security measures, accommodation and other arrangements. They said they visited Pakistan every year to perform their religious rituals during the festival of Baisakhi but this time they found facilities in terms of food, residence, security and transport far better. |
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