It happened 75 years ago, but the pain and sorrow that accompanied the partition of the Subcontinent has lingered on. It is estimated that over 14 million people were displaced. Arguably the largest mass migration in human history and one of the most violent, it left behind a trail of killings, rapes, abductions, abandonment, separation and shame. Parents lost children, siblings were separated, families divided. A generation has struggled to forgive and forget the trauma, many living in hope that they will one day unite with lost relatives, meet members of extended families.
Mahender Kaur and Sheikh Abdullah Aziz, who met at Gurdwara Sri Kartarpur Sahib on Sunday, are representatives of this generation, perhaps among the last of the people who have lived with the burden of history and memory. Like many others, the family of Sardar Bhajan Singh got divided during Partition. Aziz found himself in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir while his relatives stayed in India. After years of searching, Aziz tracked down his lost sibling on social media. Kaur and Aziz, both wheelchair-bound now, were six and three years old when they last saw each other. At Kartarpur, both families thanked the governments of India and Pakistan. The corridor provides visa-free access to Indian Sikhs. Social media initiatives have made it easier for people to track long-lost friends and family.
It was not meant to be like this, of course. Even many supporters of Partition had expected open borders and free movement of people after Independence. The violence that rocked Punjab and Bengal in 1947 and the wars Pakistan and India have fought since led to the sealing of borders. The losers, as the two nation states faced off, are people like Kaur and Aziz, victims of history. In these reunions lie hopes of redemption of a partitioned land.
