PARTITION-RELATED STORIES

*Sant Singh Teg’s family in Azad Kashmir to fulfill his last wish, G. Kashmir, Nov 7, 2007
http://www.greaterkashmir.com/full_story.asp?Date=7_11_2007&ItemID=54&cat=1

Muzaffarabad, Nov 6: Four family members of a 100-year-old Sikh who breathed his last in mid-September and was cremated in Jammu arrived in Muzaffarabad on Monday with his ashes to throw them into the Jhelum as per his last wish.

Sant Singh Teg, who was born in Hattian Dupatta, 25 kilometres from here in Jhelum Valley on April 13, 1907, left his native town 60 years ago when British India was partitioned and settled in Jammu.

The father of four sons and three daughters from two wives was injured in a road accident two years ago and was confined to bed. Ever since, the centenarian was staying in a hospital, run by one of his long time friends. However, on September 16 he died in a road accident while he was behind the wheel.

Teg came to Pakistan in 1962 on the invitation of then President Field Martial Ayub Khan but returned without visiting PaK and ever since he yearned till his last breath to revisit his birthplace, his youngest son Partab Singh told Greater Kashmir from Hattian Dupatta.

Singh, his elder brother Gurpartab Singh, sister Nirlet Kour and brother in law Harbajhan Singh crossed the Wagah border on Saturday evening and reached here on Sunday for a reunion with their relatives in Hattian Dupatta who had converted to Islam after the partition.

“Ever since my father left his birthplace in 1947 he had not been able to revisit it. He had great emotional attachment with this place where he spent the best years of his life,” Singh said.

Teg’s family, according to his account, owned a transport company before partition and he had driven countless times on Srinagar-Muzaffarabad-Rawalpindi road in his buses.

After 1947, he moved across the Line of Control but like every human being, his birthplace had always been the most cherished site for him.

When the Muzaffarabad-Srinagar bus service was launched in April 2005, his desire to visit this place increased manifold but it could not materialise for one or the other reason, he said.

A Jammu-based journalist and human rights activist, Balraj Puri was also reported to have contacted PaK Prime Minister Sardar Attique Ahmed Khan in May this year to facilitate Teg’s visit.

“We have brought his ashes and want to throw them into the Jhelum on Wednesday in respect of his last wish,” Singh said.

The Sikhs have a reverend site near Domel, the confluence of rivers Jhelum and Neelum in Muzaffarabad city, and Singh said the last rites were likely to be performed there.

He said his father had many Muslim friends in this part of Kashmir whom he wanted to attend the last rites.

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