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| Tandon, 76 - anxious to travel again on Caravan-e-Aman | | With positive hopes as the nations celebrate 60 years of independence | |
Sulaiman Shah
Srinagar, Aug 29
Jagdish Kumar Tandon, 76, has a mind boggling baggage to carry to Muzaffarabad if authorities allow him to travel again on the trans-Kashmir bus between the Indian and Pakistan administered parts.
He migrated along with his family to Jammu in 1947 when he was 16 years old. His two cousins were left behind but he had no idea about their welfare till a neighbor brought good news in April 2005 that they were alive and living in Muzaffarabad. This neighbor had boarded the first Caravan-e-Aman bus to Muzaffarabad.
Before migrating to Jammu in 1947, Tandon and his family of 12 lived in Hatya, village in Muzaffarabad. He had three brothers and six sisters at the time of partition. In 1947 immediately after the partition of sub continent ‘raiders’ looted the village and the entire family was given shelter by the Muslim neighbours. The family was looked after for seven months by the Muslims of the village. Jagdish and his family then took refuge in the local Red Cross camp who later helped them to migrate to Jammu in 1948. Two cousins of Jagdish Kumar chose to remain in Pakistan Administered Kashmir and settled there. After some time the two brothers converted to Islam and were known as Sheikh Ghulam Rasool and Mohammad Maqbool.
It was in April 2005, when the governments of India and Pakistan decided to start the bus service between the two parts of Kashmir. Tandon came to know about the commencement of communication between his adopted land and birth place. He became very emotional and applied for the documents to cross over to see his relatives. But he did not get the nod because of some formalities.
Fortunately, one of his neighbor was granted the permission and Tandon emotionally requested him to look for the whereabouts of his relatives in Muzaffarabad. After some months Tandon was able to trace the relatives and applied again to travel across. This time he was fortunate to get the permission from the authorities. It was a nostalgic experience for elderly Tandon and he could not believe he was experiencing the same motherly smell of his motherland he had lived for 16 years.
It was an emotional reunion when he met his cousins who now are devout Muslims. On the next day the host brothers organized a party for Tandon. He and the host family were in a festive mood and the party which started with Quran Khawani was at its peak when the ill-fated family was struck with another disaster.
It was 8th October when the dreaded earthquake separated the family after a long awaited reunion. The two host brothers died on spot and Tandon was seriously injured in the earthquake. For him this visit to Muzaffarabad after 58 years brought both tragedy and happiness.
Tandon has once again applied to visit Muzaffarabad this time without knowing the purpose of his visit. But one thing he knows very well that this year it is 60th independence anniversary of both India and Pakistan and while thinking on positive lines he believes that there is some expectation in the air.
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