OKARA: The memories of the Partition are still fresh in the minds of the people who witnessed the 1947 events in India and Pakistan. Many people on both sides of the border want to visit their birthplaces to recall the memories of their native homes.

This was stated by Sardar Harbhajan Singh Bhatia, 84, who was here along with his nephew, Sardar Devinder Paul Singh, and his wife Mandeep Kaur. A reception in the honour of the Bhatias was arranged at Piracha Traders (former Durga Das Commission Agents) in the grain market on Sunday.

Durga Das Commission Agents was owned by the father of Mr Bhatia before 1947 but they had to leave it as the Sikhs and the Hindus had to leave their homes and businesses due to the mayhem that followed the Partition. The Piracha Traders’ proprietor, Hafiz Imtiaz Raza, presented an old ledger book to Mr Bhatia and it belonged to his father’s company. They ledger book was kept by the Piracha Traders since 1947.

Mr Bhatia said he was 14 when he left his home in Okara in September 1947, and he had done matriculation from the Municipal Board (MB) High School presently Municipal Committee High School of the city. He said their family used to live in the B Block. He recalled that before Partition, the Grain Market Okara was a big trade market where a majority of traders were the Hindus and only three grain market agents were Muslims.

“We migrated to India and settled in Chandigarh which was developed two years after the Partition. I served in telephone department in Delhi.”

Sardar Harbhajan Singh Bhatia shared more fond memories of his 14 years life in Okara before the Partition, saying he felt as if he had come back to his own house and people.

His nephew, Sardar Devinder Paul Singh, said his uncle would get tearful whenever he remembered his Okara home and business place. He and his wife Mandeep Kaur thanked the grain market business community for giving them the reception and expressed wish to come back again along with their children.

Earlier, Anjuman Arhtian Grain Market president Chaudhry Habibul Haq welcomed the visiting Bhatia family in his office along with their host Dr Afzaal Haider and Kausar Rizvi. Habibul Haq and his brother Muneebul Haq presented shields to the Bhatias.

Published in Dawn, March 26th, 2018