Click to play videoJammu: A 104-year-old man in Jammu has only one dream left, he hopes that India and Pakistan become more generous with visa policies so that he could meet his daughters across the border for one last time.
The fourth round of the composite dialogue process between India and Pakistan is over and the fifth round is scheduled in July. However, for those divided by the vagaries of history, what have the talks achieved?
Ishar Singh, the retired transporter in Jammu has seven children in Pakistan, all left behind along with his wife during Partition. It has been a frustrating struggle, ever since to get the scattered family together.
“During partition, we lost so many people and so many families were separated. We can’t meet, as it has been difficult to get visas. Even Indian government has not given visas,” says 104-year-old, Ishar Singh.
Singh's family converted to Islam and his four sons then went to the United States. That's where he met them years later. However, his three daughters, who live in Faislabad in Pakistan, have not been that lucky. Singh went to Lahore to meet them in 1975 for a brief visit, after which the visa troubles have kept them apart.
“His daughters have been trying very hard to meet him. They applied for visa three to four times but have been refused,” says Ishar Singh's daughter-in-law, Satwant Kaur.
“These governments should have a heart. How can they keep a father and his children away,” asks Ishar Singh.
Although Singh has five children from his second marriage and is surrounded by an extended family, but somehow the family picture is never complete for him.
Borders and boundaries have scattered many families all over and as talks between India and Pakistan resume, Singh and many like him can only hope that they too figure some where in the larger picture.
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