Islamabad: Seventy-five years after she was separated from her family during the violence at the time of the Partition, a woman, born in a Sikh family but adopted and raised by a Muslim couple, met her brothers from India at Kartarpur in Pakistan’s Punjab province, according to a media report.
At the time of the Partition, Mumtaz Bibi, who was born in a Sikh family, was an infant who was lying on the dead body of her mother killed by a violent mob, the Dawn newspaper reported. A couple named Muhammad Iqbal and Allah Rakhi adopted the baby and raised her as their own daughter, naming her Mumtaz Bibi. After the Partition, Iqbal settled at Varika Tian village in Sheikhupura district of Pakistan’s Punjab province.
Iqbal and his wife did not tell Mumtaz that she was not their daughter. Two years ago, Iqbal’s health suddenly deteriorated and he told Mumtaz that she was not his real daughter and she belonged to a Sikh family.
After Iqbal’s death, Mumtaz and her son Shahbaz started searching for her family online. They knew the name of Mumtaz’s real father and the village (Sidrana) in Patiala district of Punjab (India), where they settled after being forced to leave their home.
Both the families connected through social media. Subsequently, Mumtaz’s brothers Gurumeet Singh, Narendra Singh and Amrinder Singh, accompanied by other family members, reached Gurdwara Darbar Sahib at Kartarpur. Mumtaz and her family members also reached there and met her lost brothers after 75 years, the report said.
