48 years on, Pak national reunites with Indian siblings

Dubai, May 26

In an emotional reunion, a 76-year-old man who left India for Pakistan nearly 50 years ago has met with his two siblings in the UAE’s capital Abu Dhabi.

Hamza Sarkar, who is now a Pakistan citizen, met with his brother TP Mammikutty (75), and sister Eyyathu (85), both from Kerala. He flew from Karachi, while Mammikutty and Eyyathu came from Kerala for the reunion in Abu Dhabi. Sarkar went missing first time from Kerala in 1951 when he was 11 years old, Gulf News reported. “He was fond of travelling. One day our mother sent him out to graze the cattle. He never returned,” Mammikutty said. Sarkar boarded a train to Kolkata.

“From Kolkata, I went to Bangladesh, which was then part of Pakistan. Later, I went to Karachi,” Sarkar said. After 18 years, he returned home in 1968.

In the hope that he will stay, Sarkar’s family set up a grocery shop for him but he ventured out again after nine months on the pretext of buying supplies and never returned. “That was the last we saw of him. I still remember how my mother used to keep his picture under her pillow and would cry all night,” Iyyathu said. — PTI