BHATINDA:
Partition’s lost brothers Sika Khan of Punjab’s Bathinda district and Muhammad Siddique of Pakistan wept in each other’s arms in 2022 as they reunited at Kartarpur Corridor, 75 years after their separation. This time, the grief of separation is Sika’s alone.
Three days ago, Siddique passed away, leaving his younger brother desperate to reach out to the family. Sika, 79, is preparing to travel to New Delhi to apply for a visa to be with Siddique’s family in Pakistan’s Punjab province.
“I had been praying for my brother’s long life, but fate had other plans,” a heartbroken Sika said on Thursday in his native Phulewal village.
The brothers were wrought apart in 1947 when Siddique, aged six, remained in Pakistan with their father while Sika, two years younger, stayed in the Indian half of Punjab as his mother was visiting relatives with him.
Sika hopes for visa to join brother’s family in Pakistan
The reunion of Sika Khan and Muhammad Siddique became possible thanks to the efforts of a Pakistan-based social media influencer, Nasir Dhillon. In January 2022, the brothers met at Kartarpur Corridor, after Sika received a visa from the Pakistani embassy to visit his sibling.
Siddique also visited India to meet Sika and even offered condolences for the death of singer Sidhu Moose Wala, who was popular in Pakistan. Sika never married while Siddique had three sons and two daughters. Having been separated at a young age, Sika had no memory of his parents, which Siddique filled in for him.
Jagsir Singh, a resident of Phulewal, will accompany Sika to New Delhi. Dhillon informed Sika and the Pakistan embassy in India about Siddique’s passing. “Officials have called Sika with his documents and he would hopefully get the visa,” Dhillon told TOI.
The Kartarpur Corridor is a 4.5km passage to Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Pakistan’s Narowal. It opened in November 2019 and has served as a bridge for families separated during the Partition.
Sika was grateful for the opportunity to finally reach Pakistan last year. He had empathised with those who struggle to obtain visas to meet their separated loved ones and hoped that governments would adopt a more flexible approach in facilitating such reunions.