Tales of Separation and Reunion Reviewed by Dr. Maqsood Jafri

This is a booklet written by Qaiser Khan and published by Centre for Peace, Development and Reforms. Ms. Aniqa Moona belongs to Rawalakot, Azad Kashmir. She writes poetry in English and Urdu and is very much devoted to the freedom of Kashmiris from the strangulation and yoke of Indian hegemony and barbarity. I have read this booklet thoroughly as it engrossed my soul, captured and captivated my mind for its being a document of pain and sufferings of separation of the people of Poonch and Kashmir. District Poonch is divided into two parts. One part is under the control of India and the other is under the control of Pakistan. I was born in Indian administered Poonch. Poonch city is my birth place. My father Late Tehseen Jafri was an educationist and well known poet and public speaker. He took act part in the Pakistan Movement and delivered speeches in the whole Poonch mobilizing masses in the favor of freedom movement. In 1948, he migrated to Rawalpindi, Pakistan. Some of the presidents and prime ministers of Azad Kashmir such as Sardar Mohammad Ibrahim Khan, Sardar Mohammad Abdul Qayyum Khan and Sardar Sikandar Hayat Khan were the students of my father in Poonch City before the partition of India.
There are some brief tales of the Kashmiris in this booklet who belong to divided District Poonch and Indian- held Kashmir. These seven sagas are deeply heart wrenching. On reading theses tales, the reader’s eyes are soaked with tears. One is grieved to read how people were separated from their kith and kin. A dividing line was drawn on both sides of Poonch called Cease Fire Line and later after Simla Agreement, it is called The Line of Control. Actually, this line drawn on the ground is the line drawn in the hearts of Kashmiris. The Poonch River divides both parts. The eastern bank of River is in Pakistani side, while the western bank is in Indian side. Mostly, the people gather at one side and welcome each other with gushing tears and warm sighs. What a human tragedy. The victims of separation are buried alive in the graves of miserable anguish and agony. If the son is on Pakistani side, the father is on Indian side. If the sister is on one side, the brother is on the other side.
The author has visited the people living near the border on Pakistani side and interviewed them. These interviews are heart breaking. In this booklet, the tales of Samad, Maasi Haseera, Master Saghir, Shreef Khan, Sabahat Abrar, Hafiz Mohammad Khan and Poet Sufi Mohammad Shareef have been written. These people belong to Pooch which is the Pakistan administered part. Especially, the tale of Maasi Haseera is deeply pathetic. The author has given the caption about her as “ Story of a Mother.” Amidst the crisis and chaos of partition in 1947, a family of nomads in a small village called “ Degwaar”, located in Poonch District of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Maasi Haseera lost her son. She was in the Pakistani side of the village while her son was in the Indian side of village. In her separation, she lost her senses. She used to murmur and roam around the streets. She died moaning and wailing. People made her tomb on the road side on her honor. On reading her story, my eyes rolled tears . What a great human tragedy. Shame on the on the so- called champions and stalwarts of human rights. Besides, theses pathetic tales there are two exclusive interviews
of the immigrant families of Kashmir. One is of eminent poetess and literary legend Ms. Sajida Bahar of Muzaffarabad, Azad Kashmir. This interview unveils many folds of Kashmiris tests, trials, tragedies, turmoils and tribulations. Her interview is like a beacon in the opaque and dreary nostalgic nights of pangs. Her parents lived in Baramulla, Indian occupied Kashmir. The other interview is of Late Justice Shareef Hussain Boukhari. He was separated from his family which lived in Kashmir. He lived in Lahore and through out life missed his mother, which he says that oftentimes he met her mother in dreams, till she was laid down in her grave. His interview is a hard slap on the fece of UNO, which has failed to resolve Kashmir issue according to the UN resolutions. It is the adamancy, expansionist designs and hegemony of India that on both sides of border people are suffering. The author appreciates the confidence building measures which were taken in 2005, and bus service was started between both sides of Kashmir. It was a way forward and welcoming step to temporary reunion of the people from both sides. This process also stopped. The fascist and dictator, the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has violated the UN resolutions on Kashmir and annulled the articles 370 and 35/ A of the Indian constitution and illegally annexed Kashmir with India. We need to highlight the violations of human rights in India Illegally Occupied Kashmir and mobilize world opinion against Indian aggression.
I would humbly beseech the author to kindly add one more tale in his booklet. That is the sad saga of my mother. In 1948, she migrated with my father and settled in Rawalpindi city from Poonch city, Indian held territory. Her all family remained in Poonch as no one of them migrated to Pakistan. I saw my mother always weeping bearing the cumbersome pain of the separation of her near and dear ones. Once, I saw her pulsating on the floor of the house like a fish out of water. I was a child. I mournfully asked my father as to why she was crying. He told me that a letter from Poonch city has come with a sad news that her father had died. Many a time, I found her crying on such news. Death news of sister and brother. She went to grave with tears and sighs. I am deeply pained when, her memories are recalled. Two days ago, I visited her grave and recited Surah Fateh with plaintive heart. My tears trickled on her painful life. Kashmir may be a territorial dispute or an ideological or a national issue for people, but for me it is an emotional issue as well. My two books titled “ The Plight of Kashmir” and “ Kashmir: Under Siege” published by National Book Foundation, Islamabad depict my sentiments about my birth place which I have never seen after the migration of my family.
September 12, 2023
Islamabad
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