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| Farmer to cross border to meet Manmohan |
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Thursday, May 22, 2008
LAHORE
AN aging farmer will cross the Wagah border into India on Friday hoping to meet long-lost friends, including Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh.
Raja Ali Muhammad is a farmer who lives in Gah, a small village in Chakwal district that came in the limelight for being the birthplace of the Indian premier.
Talking to The News on Wednesday, Ali said he took the initiative to cross the border to see his friends.
Although Ali can not remember his age because he says records were not kept when he was born. He says that he was sure that he is at least one year older to the Indian premier whom he refers to as Mohana - the Indian premier’s nickname.
Recounting school days, Ali says that he and Manmohan were classmates at the Gah primary school for around four years. “It was 1936 or 1937 I think...We were class fellows until primary, which was up to four classes back then,” he said.
Manmohan’s family moved to Chakwal city before they left for India following partition. He says many people, including journalists, visited Gah after Manmohan became the prime minister of India. “Many people visited our village. A majority of them, however, came only up to Katas and that is where I met many legislators and a former Indian army chief who migrated to India during partition,” Ali said. He also remembers meeting LK Advani.
Things have really started to change for good for the residents of Gah since then. Ali says that the village now has a solar electricity system gifted by India. Other facilities are also in place now, he says.
He says the government of Pakistan offered to take him to India but he could not go because of deteriorating health. “My visa was cancelled. But I had no difficulty in getting a visa this time because the Indian Embassy in Pakistan had learnt that I was their premier’s friend,” he says.
But Ali is not so sure that he would be able to meet the Indian premier “because he must be a busy man”. He insists that he is not going to India to meet the premier. “I consider him my class fellow and a friend first and a prime minister later,” he said.
The farmer from Gah says he will go to the Indian premier’s house and meet his friend’s family. “I will go to his house as I want to see and meet my bhabhi and his children,” he said.
Although the Indian Embassy or the Pakistani government have not offered to help arrange a meeting between the Indian premier and his friend, Ali hopes that a reunion might just be possible with a little help from media.
The Indian premier is not the only friend that Ali hopes to see. There are others, scattered in the Indian Punjab.
Ali said that Joginder Singh, a friend from Amritsar, remained in regular touch with him but lost contact a few years ago. “I do not know whether he is alive or not. I would ask about his whereabouts from custom officials after crossing into India,” Ali says. There is another one in Patiala, he says. “I just want to see these friends. I miss them a lot,” Ali says.
Ali has been granted visa for Delhi, Amritsar, Ambala and Ajmer Sharif. Oblivious of the negotiations going on between Pakistan and India these days, Ali and many others like him symbolise the deep links that remain intact despite wars.
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ISSN 1563-9479 
