The Hindu : National : Reunion after 40 years, thanks to soft LoC

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jun 27, 2006

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National

Reunion after 40 years, thanks to soft LoC

Staff Reporter

Jammu: There have been numerous stories of reunion of divided families ever since the Line of Control was softened. But this one is special.

Mohammad Baig returned to his birthplace in Rajouri after 40 years .

His parents reacted with shock and disbelief on seeing him. For, the family had reconciled itself to the belief that it would never meet him. His 85-year-old mother was the first to recognise him as he knocked at the door in the Thanna Mandi area.

Baig, who had left his native place in 1965, had been living in the Kotli pocket of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

There was no contact with his family. Now he returned home by legally crossing the LoC.

Says Baig: "I had given up the hope of seeing my family again and for 40 years I never tried to come back. Things have certainly changed for the better and I hope the good relations between the two countries would continue to bring relief to divided families like us."

Baig, who originally planned to stay for 15 days with his family, has extended his trip to more than a month.

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