From the last few years I was
thinking to visit my mother’s ancestral home and my grandmother’s (Nani) house
in Pakistan’s Punjab. This was my second visit to Pakistan;earlier in 2008 I had
visited city of Lahore but didn’t have time to see the rest of the Punjab.
I gathered all the information, the whereabouts, the location and nearest city
from elders and spoke to my friends living in that area.
Also the purpose of my visit to Pakistan was to visit Pakpattan, the mausoleum
of Baba Farid Ganj Shakar, Mazar Baba Bule Shah at Kasur, Kartarpur, the place
where Guru Baba Nanak lived the last years of his life and visit Sheikhupura
Fort and Hiran Minar.
I started my journey from Amritsar to Lahore by bus and was received at Lahore
by my dearest friend Jamil Mir. After a brief lunch in a hotel we went to meet
Haq Sahib, a very respectable personality whom I know since 2008, welcomed me at
his house. We planned and chalked about my visit, I told them the reason of my
visit to Pakistan.
The next morning Jamil, Bilal (Jamil’s son) and me left from Lahore to Pakpattan
around 10 in the morning and reached Pakpattan, the mausoleum of Hazrat Baba
Farid Ganj Shakar. This program was discussed with Fida Mir (T.M.O.) Pasrur in
advance, who assisted us in every way to make this trip comfortable to us.
Pakpattan is about 3 hours’ drive from Lahore, the road is smooth, and we
stopped near Sahiwal now called Okara for a cup of tea. On our way we saw crops
of maize, cotton, sugarcane, guava orchards and vegetable fields.
We reached the shrine in the noon, this place was very busy, and thousands of
visitors come here every day for their wishes. We were served a Langer and an
attendant went with us to the tomb and explained the history. There are two
doors of the tomb one is called Noori Darwaza and other one Bahishti Darwaza. We
paid obeisance at both the doors and chadors were offered to us by shrine
management. There is a big new mosque situated in the shrine. Tomb of Hazrat
Baba Farid is made of entirely white marble. There are some graves of his family
members within the shrine compound. We came to know that Bahishti darwaza is
opened only once a year during the time of Urs which falls in the month of
Muharram.
The next morning we decided to visit my grandmother’s house Chak Jhumra near
Faisalabad. We started our journey on Motorway, the fastest way to travel on the
road in Pakistan. I was surprised to see the toll system, E-Z card, police
patrolling, speed limit, cleanliness and overall management of the motorway.
The road goes straight parallel to the railway line from Faisalabad to Chak
Jhumra and Sangla Hill. This side we saw lots of sugarcane and wheat crops.
The village name is Chak 145 R.B. which is 23 kilometers from Faisalabad. For a
while I became emotional to see the haveli which was built by my great
grandfather in early 1900 for their residence and they owned huge land, many
murabas around the village. The Haveli stands still in the village untouchable
just needs some care by the present owners who also migrated from East Punjab.
The partition of both the countries had divided the land and areas, but hearts
are not divided, I was received warmly by Dil Muhammed and Khushi Muhammed, the
present owners of the haveli and the villagers. We took pictures of every area,
every corner of the rooms and verandahs. After having tea with the villagers we
left for Faisalabad.
Faisalabad is one of the districts of Punjab, formerly known as Lyallpur during
British period. It has an Agricultural University one of the oldest, and is the
main industrial city in the hub. Faisalabad is connected to the other cities
with motorway and is a historical city.
Our next program was to go to Gurdawara Kartarpur Sahib which is near Narowal.
We left Lahore in the morning, took G.T. Road via Mureedke to Narowal, the road
was under construction in between. Mureedke to Narowal is about 70 kilometers,
and this area produces mainly wheat and rice. Fida Mir was waiting for us at
Narowal to give us accompany. We were little late behind our schedule. We
reached at Kartarpur Sahib; this place is beautiful and very quiet. The river
Ravi flows nearby. This place is only few kilometers away from Indian border.
After paying obeisance we had a cup of tea, the weather started to turn cold and
foggy. We planned to leave; Fida Mir insisted that we can have a dinner at
Pasrur. By this time dense fog started to fall. We arrived at Pasrur around 6 at
night. Fida explained us about the Tehsil Administration system of Pasrur and a
short tour of the tehsil complex. After dinner we went to meet Taqeer Cheema
Assistant Commissioner of Pasrur, who is a decent young man and after having a
cup of tea. We planned to leave for Lahore. The weather was cold and we were
surrounded by dense fog with zero visibility. We never thought about such a
terrible weather. We arrived at Lahore in the midnight covering a distance of
125 kilometers in 5 hours.
Our next program was to see Hiran Minar and Sheikhupura Fort. Hiran Minar was a
hunting ground for Mughals during old times still there is a lots of forest
area. The place is beautiful, being renovated but very few visitors come here.
The area is isolated no sign boards on the road to show the direction of this
historical place.
Sheikhupura Fort is situated on a hill, which is now surrounded by the city.
This building was a joint architecture of Mughal and Sikh periods.There is anold
Haveli that belongs to Sikh Maharani which stands still.
After staying few days at Lahore I decided to visit my mother’s village near
Gojra (Faisalabad) I called my friend Asif Muhammad that tomorrow I'm coming to
the village. My plan was to travel by bus, so I called the Daewoo Bus Company
and booked my reservation. Daewoo bus provides an excellent service to travel in
Pakistan. The journey was very smooth and cozy; snacks and drinks were provided
in the bus. It seems like travelling in a plane. Finally I arrived at
Faisalabad, Asif and Tariq came to receive me. First time I met my friends and
it was feeling that we know each other for a long time. Asif told me that we are
going directly to Chak 356 where my mother was born. The information had already
been sent to the village, Chaudhry Gulam Nabifrom the village have made all the
necessary arrangements for me. He called an old fellow Nazir Ahmed who narrated
the full story to me, and explained how two of my mother’s uncles and aunt were
killed in the village during partition. Nazir Ahmed’s father and other family
were known to my grandparents. Their house was not there; except one room, a
door and a mango tree, because everything has changed, the new owners have
modified the house according to their needs. I was received warmly by every
person of the village, the moment was very emotional. I promised them that I
will come again after two days.
I stayed few days at Chak 286 village at Asif’s house and it seemed to me that
I'm not a stranger here, and my relation to these people is for a long time. We
had invitationsalmost every day, and everyone wanted to invite me at their
house. The village life is very peaceful, no worries at all and the people are
so simple, I cannot explain. I enjoyed Asif, Tariq and Sheikh’s accompany.
Sometimes I think where can I find these friends?Here I saw the village names
were similar to the East Punjab, and then I came to know that people migrated
from their villagers after partition adopted the same names where they belonged
to.
One day I had a chance to visit Tobha Tek Singh city, there was a lots of hustle
and bustle in the bazaars, people were doing shopping’s, hawkers were selling
clothes and fruits specially guava, which is very popular this side.
This area from Jhang,Tobha Tek Singh, Pir Mahal and Faislabad is called Sandal
Bar. The British granted Jagirs to army men to settle here who served in the
world wars. The railway system is great and it runs parallel to the main roads.
The land is very fertile and produces more sugarcane and wheat than any other
part of Pakistan. The village starts with Chak no. so and so. Followed by a
number and a letter. The number is the name of the village and letter relates to
the source of water. Some villages are named after a famous person or a zamindar
of the area that has done some good work in the area. For example Chak 286 JB
Dal Singhwala. I truly believe that Pakistan Punjab hasstill preserved the old
Punjabi culture and tradition.
After few days I went back to my grandparent’s village to say goodbye. They had
a big gathering, I met everyone in the village, received blessings from the old
people, and finally said farewell to Nazir Ahmed, by whom I was able to collect
some vital information about my elders.
I came back to Lahore and decided to visit Kasur, the city of Hazrat Baba Bule
Shah, which is situated about 24 kilometers from Lahore.The road from Lahore to
Kasur is wide and very smooth. Baba Bule Shah was a Sufi saint who lived at
Kasur for quite some time and his tomb started attracting thousands of pilgrims
every year on the urs. Kasur is also famous for world famous Kasuri methi.
Kasur has lots of old historical buildings inside the city. It is close to
border Ganda Singh wala where a small flag ceremony is being held similar to
that of Wagah border.
During my entire stay in Pakistan, it seemed to look like my own country, my own
people who have given me all the respect and identity, cannot forget their
hospitality in the villages, and the country where I traveled freely without any
hesitation and restrictions.
After staying about two weeks in Pakistan, the land where once my great
grandparents lived, time came to say goodbye. I was given a warm farewell by
Jamil Mir and Haq Sahib. They dropped me at the Zero line, Wagah Border with
full protocol. The immigration officials and Pak rangers show full respect
towards me. However on the opposite in Indian side the dealing of Custom
officials was very rude and ruthless against me and the country I had visited.