AMRITSAR, APRIL 30: April 23 My heart began to pound wildly as we stepped across Radcliffe Line at noon. The Pakistani Rangers ushered us in—my husband Baldev Singh, Sarbjit’s wife Sukhpreet Kaur and their daughters Swapandeep and Poonam accompanied me. They checked our documents, visas and we were taken to a large room and offered tea but we only drank some water. Soon, we met officials of the Indian High Commission in Islamabad who had arranged for a vehicle to take us from Wagah to Lahore. After a 30-minute drive, we reached Lahore. Our vehicle reached Gurudwara Dera Sahib that’s built in the memory of fifth Sikh Guru Arjun Dev. Here, gurudwara manager Azhar welcomed us and allotted us two rooms but we decided to stay in one big room. There was so much security that guards were standing even on the roof of the gurudwara. I asked the High Commission officials if we could meet Sarabjit and they asked us to wait. After two hours, they came to us and said we could meet him only the next day. We were upset but knew we had to be patient.

April 24 We got up early, prayed and waited—our meeting with Sarabjit was the only thing on our minds. Finally, at about 11 a.m., the officials escorted us to Kot Lakhpat Rai jail on the outskirts of Lahore. Our heavily guarded caravan of vehicles crossed the bazaars and reached the jail complex where a horde of media persons stood waiting. It was only when the jail authorities asked us to produce our passports that we realised we had left them behind in our room. We contacted Azhar, the gurudwara manager, and he brought the documents to the jail. I do not remember the exact time but after about two hours, we were taken to a heavily guarded meeting room in the jail and asked to wait. We noticed iron bars on one of side of the room and realised Sarabjit would come from the other side. My heart was pounding. I hadn’t seen my brother in 18 years. A tall, well-built man in salwar-kameez came from the other end of the big hall. I whispered to the others that this must be Sarabjit. Tears rushed to my eyes and soon, we were all crying. Sarabjit folded his hands and wished us Sat-Sri-Akal. We threw both his hands from across the iron bars towards us. He held the hands of the children, patted them on head and touched me, trying to hug but the iron bars in between wouldn’t let us. We crawled down to sit and so did he. He looked us in the eye and each time he did that, his eyes would well up with tears and he looked away. All we did was cry, smile a bit and cry again. He spoke little and said something about fate and destiny—my little brother seemed like a saint. The meeting was supposed to last 48 minutes but it went on for an hour and a half. Finally, Sarabjit was asked to go back. We came back to the gurudwara and locked ourselves in and went to sleep without eating.

April 25 We woke up early, prayed at the gurudwara and went to Nankeen Sahib, the birthplace of Guru Nanak Dev, about 40 km from Lahore. We spent the whole day at Nankana praying for Sarbjit’s safety and returned late in the evening.

April 26 Pakistan human rights activist Asma Jahangir came to visit us. She consoled us saying we should not worry as efforts were on to save Sarabjit. After she left, our lawyer in Pakistan Rana Abdul Hamid came to us and we requested him for another meeting with Sarabjit, which, he said, was not possible.

April 27 It was Sunday and we woke late thinking it was a holiday and remained inside the gurudwara till afternoon. But we later learnt that it was a working day though no official had visited us that day. We had a few visitors though—people nearby who had heard of our visit and were curious. One of then had come from Faislabad with her aged father (I do not recall their names). She told us about her brother who was lodged in an Indian jail. I promised to help.

April 28, 2008 The next day, we had more visitors. Most of them were family members of Pakistanis lodged in Indian jails and wanted us to help them. I could only console them and promise help though my hope was running thin. In the evening, when we went out to the market, people walked up to us, shook hands and said we needn’t worry as Sarabjit was innocent and would be with us. It was a great gesture.

April 29, 2008 We got constant reminders that our visas would expire today. We started packing up. Our requests for another meeting with Sarabjit were not accepted. Senior Indian High Commission officials said they would see us off at Wagah for our journey back home. But they later changed their plans. It was a lonely journey from Lahore to Wagah. We crossed over, hoping we would come back here to receive Sarabjit the day he is freed.