75 years after partition of India and Pakistan, split families still suffer

KARACHI/NEW DELHI • Mr Ali Hasan Baqai and Mr Abid Hasan Baqai - brothers split for 75 years by the partition of India and Pakistan - talk to their families via a video call, words and tears binding them, but with no hope of a reunion.

Thousands of families like the Baqai brothers remain divided three-quarters of a century after their countries were formed in the rupture of independence from British-ruled India in 1947.

"I felt that I can't touch them," younger brother Abid Hasan told Reuters in New Delhi. He added that it was good to see his brother in Karachi, but it was nothing like "a hug, a touch, shaking hands or talking to them" in person.

Muslim-majority Pakistan marked independence yesterday, while majority-Hindu arch-rival India does so today.

The Baqai families last met eight years ago when the older brother travelled to New Delhi. Repeated subsequent attempts for visas by the two families have been rejected on both sides, the brothers said.

Britain's carving out of new nations by splitting the two - as its empire ebbed after World War II - triggered mass sectarian migration in both directions, marred by bloodshed and violence on both sides.

About 15 million people changed countries, mainly based on religion, and more than a million were killed in religious riots in the 1947 Partition, according to independent estimates.

The legacy of partition has endured to this day, resulting in a bitter rivalry between the nuclear-armed neighbours despite their cultural and linguistic links.

Pakistan and India have fought three wars since independence, two over the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, which they both claim in full. Tensions peaked in 2019 when each sent combat fighters into the other's airspace.

Both countries also rarely grant visas to each other's citizens, making visits nearly impossible - but social media has helped people on either side of the border connect.

Among the divided, the Baqais have not been able to share each other's happiest or saddest moments.

Mr Ali Hasan was not allowed to attend the funerals of his two sisters and mother in New Delhi.

REUTERS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE