Split by India-Pak partition, brothers meet after 74 years
Much like the landmark Kartarpur Corridor that connects India and Pakistan, Punjabi Lehr, the Pakistan-based YouTube channel that brought together two brothers separated by Partition after 74 years and got many a little teary-eyed, has reunited over 200 friends and families across the border.
A video of the tearful reunion, showing the elderly brothers, one from India and another from Pakistan, hugging each other at the visa-free Kartarpur Corridor this week, has gone viral.
The emotional meeting of 84-year-old Saddique Khan from Pakistan’s Punjab and his brother from Indian Punjab, Habib alias Sikka Khan, lasted more than an hour before the brothers returned to their respective homes.
The reunion of the two octogenarian brothers separated during Partition in 1947, in addition to being a showstopper for pilgrims in Kartarpur, also put a spotlight on the Pakistan-based YouTube channel that helped them meet and hug each other after 74 years.
Nasir Dhillon, who runs his YouTube channel with over 531,000 subscribers, says the channel’s aim is “to bridge a gap between the peoples of East and West Punjab, created by Partition.”
“With the help of the people of both sides of the Indian and Pakistani Punjab, we have reunited over 200 friends and families,” Dhillon told PTI.
“People from both sides of the border share their stories of separation from their immediate family members, relatives and friends during bloody riots of Participation in 1947, and some link is found through such videos,” said Dhillon, who runs the channel with Bhupinder Singh Lovely of Nankana Sahib.