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Delhi jeweller, Pakistan prof help each other find link to pre-Partition past

The two had coincidentally joined the same social media platform meant for people trying to locate their lost families in the two countries

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Harvinder Singh and Salma Bibi
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Seventy years ago, for a 14-year-old girl in Uttar Pradesh, her recent wedding had been the most important event of her life. It all changed in the blink of an eye, as the country witnessed a bloody Partition that tore thousands of families apart.

Salma Bibi, the new bride, had to leave everything familiar, including her family, behind to migrate to newly-formed Pakistan with her husband and in-laws.

Amid the bloodshed and the paranoia, stories of Indians and Pakistanis helping each other through the difficult time also poured in. It seems not much has changed since then. Thanks to this mutual affection and a sense of a shared history among the citizens of the neighbouring countries, and, of course, technological advancements, Bibi finally managed to contact her long-lost family.

Bibi, now 85, had made peace with her fate and the dream of reuniting with her family had started fading. Just then, Delhi-based jeweller Harvinder Singh came into the picture as a bearer of good tidings.

Singh, whose family met with a similar fate during Partition and migrated from Pakistan to India, had been trying to locate his ancestral home in Pakistan's Punjab province when he came in touch with Bibi's grandson Israr Ahmed, a professor, on social media.

The two had coincidentally joined the same social media platform meant for people trying to locate their lost families in the two countries.

"Both of us had joined a social media group meant for people searching for their near and dear ones in neighbouring countries. Technology turned out to be a blessing for us. We found each other at a time when we were searching for the same thing — our lost identities. One day, I messaged Ahmed and sought his help in finding my home, as he was also from the same place, Sialkot in Punjab," Singh said.

After months of searching, Ahmed finally succeeded in locating Singh's home in the Bhopalwala town of Sialkot. "He sent me some pictures and videos of my ancestral house. It was an overwhelming moment for me and my family," Singh said, adding that he then realised that it was his turn to help Ahmed find his own family in India.

"He told me that his grandmother's family used to live in a small town in Uttar Pradesh's Saharanpur district. After putting in some effort, I finally located one of her brothers, now living in Islamnagar," he said.

Back in Pakistan, a few months ago, Bibi's family received the long-awaited call. "We never saw her as happy as she was when her brother called her. We will always be grateful to Singh bhaiya," Bibi's daughter-in-law Tyabba Saeed told DNA over the telephone.

The two families have been in constant touch ever since. "We call each other frequently. Bibi's family treats me like one of their own. I am planning to go for her grandson's wedding, scheduled for next year. I want them to wear jewellery from my store," Singh said.

"Despite constant tension between the two countries, people on both sides are friendly and want to live in peace," Tyabba said.

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