Emotional home-coming for Pak national

Rupnagar, Jul 7 (UNI) It was an emotional homecoming for 80-year-old Mohammad Yusuf of Pakistan, who visited his native village of Kamalpur, near here along with his son Arshad.

Yusuf was around 19 years old when he and his family left India for Pakistan during partition, 61 years ago.

On their arrival yesterday, they were honoured by the villagers during a function held in the village Gurudwara along with Yusuf's childhood friends Ram Sarup and Jagu Ram.

Overwhelmed by the response he received, Yusuf said they had 150 bighas of land in the village when they left for Pakistan.

However, they were not allotted any land in Pakistan.

His family earned its livelihood working as labourers and digging canals for 20 long years after which they were allotted 25 acres of land in Chak 481 in Pakistan.

Recalling his old days, Yusuf said he attended school in Jhallian village and would often take a bath in the Sirhind canal passing near the village. At the time of partition there was large-scale violence all around and his family was also looted near village Rangilpur after they left Kamalpur.

Yusuf said his family had never forgotten their native village and he had always longed to visit the place. It was only due to the efforts of his son, who is a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) that his desire had been fulfilled after 61 long years he added.

He said the village had undergone lot of been changes since 1947 and the surroundings seemed to be less beautiful than it was 61 years ago.

Yusuf visited the site where his house was once situated and also his school in Jhallian village. He also went to the spot where he used to take bath in the Sirhind canal.

It was also a pleasant reunion for the long lost friends. His childhood friends Ram Sarup, who lives in Kurukshetra and Jagu Ram, who lives in Kharar were the first to meet him when Yusuf arrived in India.

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