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Two brothers who were recently reunited for a brief period after they were separated during the 1947 partition of India and Pakistan, will finally be able to spend time together.
The Pakistan High Commission in Delhi on Friday issued a two-month visa to Sika Khan, the brother estranged on the Indian side of the border, to visit his brother, Muhammed Siddique, in Pakistan’s Faisalabad.
The visa was issued after a video of their tearful reunion after 74 years had gone viral.
Today, Pakistan High Commission issues visa to Sika Khan to visit his brother, Muhammed Siddique and other family members in Pakistan. The two brothers separated in 1947 were recently reunited after 74 years at Kartarpur Sahib Corridor. pic.twitter.com/SAmkGmaQKT
— Pakistan High Commission India (@PakinIndia) January 28, 2022
The brothers were reunited on January 12 on the Kartarpur Corridor, a visa-free border crossing that opened in November 2019 which connects Indian pilgrims to the Sikh holy temple of Darbar Sahib in Pakistan.
Their meeting sadly only lasted for an hour, as both had to return to their respective countries.
Brothers meet after 74 years because of 1947! #pakistan #punjab
— Manpreet Singh (@mjassal) January 12, 2022
(I admit, I cried) pic.twitter.com/NddUYBHK09
Visas between India and Pakistan have remained difficult to obtain since the bitter division of 1947.
Jagsir Singh, a man from Sika’s village, told The Wire that both the Indian and Pakistani authorities made efforts in issuing Sika’s visa, so that the brothers could spend a few days together.
“He will leave for Pakistan in the next two-three days. His brother’s family will meet him at Wagah border and then take him to Faisalabad,” said Jagsir.
The Wire reported the tragic circumstances that led to their separation.
Two days before the partition, his mother went to visit her parents in Indian Punjab with her younger son Sika, who was barely six months old.
Soon the situation became tense and the partition led to the largest mass migration in human history where at least 20 million people were displaced.
The family was unable to locate Sika’s father and his elder brother even after they looked for them everywhere.
The boys' mother died by suicide months later, leaving young Sika in the lurch.
“He then grew up in the village at his maternal uncles’ home and still stays with them,” said Jagsir.
Sika’s hope to meet his brother came true with the opening of the Kartarpur Corridor but their meeting was delayed for a year and half due to the global pandemic.
Jagsir told The Wire that Sika works as an agricultural labourer.
His village collected enough money to bear the expenditure of his Kartarpur visit and will be doing the same to ensure that he has a comfortable journey to Pakistan.
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