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The cold war between India and Pakistan continues. As the leaders of the countries struggle to reverse the trend, one remote Indian village stands out as the shining example of good neighbourly relations. The villagers weep if tears trickle down Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharief's cheeks. They break into a guffaw when they see a flicker of smile on his lips. And they flock to the local gurdwara, invoking God's blessings when he is in dire straits — as they did recently when Sharief was locked in a legal tussle with his country's judiciary, which threatened to dislodge his government. The saffron brigade may jump to unreasonable conclusions, as several quarters do, alleging that Indian Muslims cheer for Pakistan when the country plays against Indian cricket team. Such allegations will not affect the villagers. Sharief is their pind da munda (son of village). Yes, the Pakistan prime minister hails from Jati Umra on the Jandiala-Khadoor Sahib road, Amritsar, India. No wonder Sharief has been reciprocating Jati Umra's gestures. When Sharief and his cousins visited Jati Umra for the first time after Partition, he was warmly welcomed by the villagers. Sharief, too, distributed sweets and made enquiries about old friends and neighbours. He also gave away his ancestral home that adjoined the gurdwara. This was in the 1960s. Since then, the family has visited the village three times The villagers believe Sharief sincerely wants to improve relations with India, but was being hampered in his efforts by certain fundamentalist groups within his country. Recalling the pre-Partition days, former sarpanch (headman) Arjun Singh, who was Sharief's immediate neighbour, said only two Muslim families lived in the village. One of them was headed by Ramzan, a landless farmer who cultivated land on contract basis. He had seven sons, including the Pakistani premier's father, an ''active boy who often took part in the village's kabbadi competitions''. Singh, now in his 70s, said, "Mohammed (Sharief's father) and I were bosom pals and studied in the same primary school in Sarli, a nearby village. We lived like brothers and participated in each others's family functions." A few years before Partition, recalled another village elder Karnaji Singh, all of Ramzan's sons went to Lahore and established foundry units. But they never lost touch with the village, and young Nawaz Sharief, who went to Lahore for his secondary education, would always spend his holidays at Jati Umra. Remembering the tumultuous months in early 1947, septuagenarian Massa Singh said it was at this time that the Sharief clan migrated to Lahore despite requests to the contrary from the villagers. Go To Page: 1 2
The copyright of the article Cold War Continues in South Asian Politics is owned by Imtiaz Maqbool. Permission to republish Cold War Continues in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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