People of Sharif’s ancestral village in India still love them

AMRITSAR: Seventy years after partition, hearts of people of a small village of Indian Punjab still beat for the Pakistan’s Sharif family.

Jati Umra, the ancestral home of Sharif family, is a small village situated near Amritsar along the Wagah border of Pakistan. The only Gurdwara (worship place of Sikhs) of the village is located in the house of forefathers of Sharifs.

According to BBC Urdu, a photo of Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif was hanging on the wall of an elder of the village Dilbagh Singh when the reporter visited the locality to meet the people.

Dilbagh Singh informed BBC Urdu that Mian Muhammad Sharif, father of Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif and his father were friends.

Mian Muhammad Sharif had migrated to Pakistan much before the partition of the sub-continent, Dilbagh said and added however, Mian Sharif never forget his ancestral village and its people.

He went on to say, the villagers often visit Pakistan to meet their neighbours who migrated to Pakistan.

Dilbagh said they are warmly welcomed by their friends in Pakistan every time they go there.

The local Sikh religious elder also informed that sometime back in 2013, Shahbaz Sharif had visited the area and donated his family land for Gurdwara.

Locals said when Nawaz Sharif first time become the Prime Minister sweets were distributed in the village.

Another Sikh religious leader Andar Jeet Singh said prayers were held for Nawaz Sharif and the family in the Gurdwara when his government was toppled in 1999 by a military ruler.

Commenting on casualties across the border, Dilbagh Singh said it hurt them a lot. “We pray for the same love between countries as we love with Jati Umra.