Rawalpindi: India

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Rawalpindi’s Indian namesakes want peace with Pak

The Times of India

I P Singh | TNN

Jalandhar/Hoshiarpur:

Rawalpindi 8km — the milestone on the busy Hoshiarpur-Phagwara Road leaves you surprised. For, it’s Lahore, and not Rawalpindi, that’s the nearest Pakistani city from the international border. But, this Rawalpindi is right in India, a village near Jalandhar. And, there is another Rawalpindi, about 40km away near Hoshiarpur.

Far from being uncomfortable with the name, and despite, the constant tension between the two nations, the inhabitants of these two Pindis yearn for permanent peace with Pakistan.

These two villages, inhabited mostly by migrants post-Partition, are named after the Pakistan town housing its Army’s headquarters. But that bothers them the least.

The Rawalpindi village near Jalandhar was a Muslimdominated village. After Partition, Hindus and Sikhs came from Pakistan and made it their home. The other Rawalpindi in Garhshankar near Hoshiarpur was founded by the Sikhs who migrated from Pakistan and named it after the original Rawalpindi.

‘‘The village was deserted, with clear signs of arson and loot when we arrived after alighting at Phagwara from a train from Pakistan. All Muslims, who were called Rawals, had migrated to Pakistan,’’ recalls Hazaara Ram (95), the oldest in Rawalpindi near Jalandhar, who had come from village Char Chak Sheikhupura district in Pakistan.

The post-Partition fear returns to his wrinkled face as he revisits those traumatic days. ‘‘A Muslim friend of mine, Kaka, and a local leader Gul Mohammad, escorted us safely to a camp when we were leaving Pakistan,’’ he recalls.

‘‘The village had a beautiful mosque along with a sarai (inn) and the premises were later used as a primary school where we got educated,’’ says Hazaara Ram’s son Harbans Lal. After the Partition, Sikhs and Hindus settled here.