Today is STILL Monday, April 13th, 2009 and it is now 12:10 PM here in the Philippines.
To continue with the last entry...
Several years later both India and Pakistan agreed to a family reunification treaty, and ruled that no matter what circumstances have ensued, and children missing, less than 18 and unmarried, would be returned to their families, no exceptions.
This agreement was very well publicised in both nations and many families had joyous reunions...and then there were others like the case I am discussing...
Mr. Singh had 2 nephews who, until he had fallen in love, had been promised his property as an inheritance. Now denied this modest windfall, they informed the authorities that their uncle's wife was one such person stolen from her parents.
Despite her explanation that her husband had not stolen her, but had instead saved her life from the man who had, she was forcibly removed, along with her 1 year old daughter and taken to a huge and distant transit camp while her family was sought.
Her husband left his home and camped outside the camp, spending every day sitting next to her during visititng hours, as they both cried themsleves into exhaustion.
When her family was finally located after about 6 months, they realised she would soon be repatriated.
Desperate, he pled to be allowed to go with her but as a Sikh, he was categorically denied. Mr. Singh finally cut his hair, which as a Sikh had never been cut and then he formally converted to Islam.
Still, he was denied permission and when, days later she was taken to Pakistan, she sadly left their daughter with her father, not wanting to subject the infant to the grueling journey. Desperately she swore her love for him and promised to return as soon as she was able. He promised to wait, and to safeguard their child.
Months passed and he received no word, until finally he bundled up their daughter and walked the thousands of kilometers , illegaly on pain of death, into Pakistan.
Before she left she had made him promise to remember the name of her family's
village. Leaving their daughter with a Muslim chairity in the capital, he arrived in the village but when he sought information on his wife he was beaten to within inches of his death. Then he was angrily turned over to the Immigration Authorities as an illegal entrant.
Only when he was recovering in jail did he find that on the day the truck had deposited his wife in the village, her family had married her off to a cousin!
He was brought before a justice in his now very serious Immigration case, only to find that his case had been widely reported and throngs were eagerly awaiting all developments. This probablly saved his life, and yet he told the justice that he did not care. He told the justice he had but a single wish and if he was so obliged he swore he would return quietly to India without further burdening the courts.
The justice did not have much choice, he gave the one wish: He had the wife brought to the hearing, and asked her, per the wish, if she knew the man before her. She slowly answered that she did, he was her "first husband."
Then the final question: She was asked if she wanted to join her husband, and she hesitated...nervously fidgeting under the stern glances of her male relatives in a country that even today murders women who dare not obey her male family members unquestioningly. Finally she slowly shook her head and said ,very quietly, "No."
Hey husband moaned but caught himself before collapsing...He then walked over to her and handed their daughter to her with his remaining savings but after looking at her family who began screaming, the wife refused to accept the girl knowing that it would be a death sentence for her now almost 2 year old daughter.
Dejected, he made his way, daughter in hand to the bazaar where he bought a beautiful outfit for the gurgling baby.
Then he finally paid a letter writer to write a short note to his lost love...before finally heading to the capital train station.
Just as the train back to India pulled in he grabbed the babyand jumped under the engine!
Although he was killed, by a true miracle the little girl was not even scratched!!!!!!
It was after his body was recovered that the note he had written was finally read...These are the actual words:
"My Dearest Love, sadly you chose to listen to the multitudes, yet they will never tell you the truth. I always told you the truth. I know you have rejected me but I have one last wish: If you would be so generous as to allow me to be buried in your village cemetery? In this manner you might sometimes choose to visit me, and place flowers on the memoury of the man who lived and died for you. I desire only to be close to you..."
Look, I will not lie, as indeed I have never lied here nor have I lied much in all my life. When I was reading the book, and the revelation of their marriage ended on a happy thought, joy found amidst incredible suffering, longing and lonliness. Some 600 pages later it tells us what became of central characters, among them this couple.
So, when I then read about what happened after, with her forced repatriation and the tragedies that followed I literally felt as if the breath had been KICKED out of me, I cried for a good 5 minutes.
I have been struggling so much with the problems I now have with Rizza, and when I found out how the poor man had his happiness ripped from his soul, well let me merely say that I understood his pain more than I care to get into at the moment.
His death rallied many Pakistanis, and he had many hundreds of mourners when the army , by public demand, tried to inter his body in his wife's village...and yet the village males who were almost entirely the wife's family, came close to armed insurrection over the issue as they saw it as a challenge to their control of their womenfolk. Sadly this caused the army to relent and instead they interred him in a specially nuilt shrine back in the capital.
Still, her family desecrated the shrine and the man's remains.
This in turn sparked terrible outrage, as hundreds of Muslim men then stood guard over the refurbished shrine for along time after so as to prevent a repeat desecration.
I will continue...
To continue with the last entry...
Several years later both India and Pakistan agreed to a family reunification treaty, and ruled that no matter what circumstances have ensued, and children missing, less than 18 and unmarried, would be returned to their families, no exceptions.
This agreement was very well publicised in both nations and many families had joyous reunions...and then there were others like the case I am discussing...
Mr. Singh had 2 nephews who, until he had fallen in love, had been promised his property as an inheritance. Now denied this modest windfall, they informed the authorities that their uncle's wife was one such person stolen from her parents.
Despite her explanation that her husband had not stolen her, but had instead saved her life from the man who had, she was forcibly removed, along with her 1 year old daughter and taken to a huge and distant transit camp while her family was sought.
Her husband left his home and camped outside the camp, spending every day sitting next to her during visititng hours, as they both cried themsleves into exhaustion.
When her family was finally located after about 6 months, they realised she would soon be repatriated.
Desperate, he pled to be allowed to go with her but as a Sikh, he was categorically denied. Mr. Singh finally cut his hair, which as a Sikh had never been cut and then he formally converted to Islam.
Still, he was denied permission and when, days later she was taken to Pakistan, she sadly left their daughter with her father, not wanting to subject the infant to the grueling journey. Desperately she swore her love for him and promised to return as soon as she was able. He promised to wait, and to safeguard their child.
Months passed and he received no word, until finally he bundled up their daughter and walked the thousands of kilometers , illegaly on pain of death, into Pakistan.
Before she left she had made him promise to remember the name of her family's
village. Leaving their daughter with a Muslim chairity in the capital, he arrived in the village but when he sought information on his wife he was beaten to within inches of his death. Then he was angrily turned over to the Immigration Authorities as an illegal entrant.
Only when he was recovering in jail did he find that on the day the truck had deposited his wife in the village, her family had married her off to a cousin!
He was brought before a justice in his now very serious Immigration case, only to find that his case had been widely reported and throngs were eagerly awaiting all developments. This probablly saved his life, and yet he told the justice that he did not care. He told the justice he had but a single wish and if he was so obliged he swore he would return quietly to India without further burdening the courts.
The justice did not have much choice, he gave the one wish: He had the wife brought to the hearing, and asked her, per the wish, if she knew the man before her. She slowly answered that she did, he was her "first husband."
Then the final question: She was asked if she wanted to join her husband, and she hesitated...nervously fidgeting under the stern glances of her male relatives in a country that even today murders women who dare not obey her male family members unquestioningly. Finally she slowly shook her head and said ,very quietly, "No."
Hey husband moaned but caught himself before collapsing...He then walked over to her and handed their daughter to her with his remaining savings but after looking at her family who began screaming, the wife refused to accept the girl knowing that it would be a death sentence for her now almost 2 year old daughter.
Dejected, he made his way, daughter in hand to the bazaar where he bought a beautiful outfit for the gurgling baby.
Then he finally paid a letter writer to write a short note to his lost love...before finally heading to the capital train station.
Just as the train back to India pulled in he grabbed the babyand jumped under the engine!
Although he was killed, by a true miracle the little girl was not even scratched!!!!!!
It was after his body was recovered that the note he had written was finally read...These are the actual words:
"My Dearest Love, sadly you chose to listen to the multitudes, yet they will never tell you the truth. I always told you the truth. I know you have rejected me but I have one last wish: If you would be so generous as to allow me to be buried in your village cemetery? In this manner you might sometimes choose to visit me, and place flowers on the memoury of the man who lived and died for you. I desire only to be close to you..."
Look, I will not lie, as indeed I have never lied here nor have I lied much in all my life. When I was reading the book, and the revelation of their marriage ended on a happy thought, joy found amidst incredible suffering, longing and lonliness. Some 600 pages later it tells us what became of central characters, among them this couple.
So, when I then read about what happened after, with her forced repatriation and the tragedies that followed I literally felt as if the breath had been KICKED out of me, I cried for a good 5 minutes.
I have been struggling so much with the problems I now have with Rizza, and when I found out how the poor man had his happiness ripped from his soul, well let me merely say that I understood his pain more than I care to get into at the moment.
His death rallied many Pakistanis, and he had many hundreds of mourners when the army , by public demand, tried to inter his body in his wife's village...and yet the village males who were almost entirely the wife's family, came close to armed insurrection over the issue as they saw it as a challenge to their control of their womenfolk. Sadly this caused the army to relent and instead they interred him in a specially nuilt shrine back in the capital.
Still, her family desecrated the shrine and the man's remains.
This in turn sparked terrible outrage, as hundreds of Muslim men then stood guard over the refurbished shrine for along time after so as to prevent a repeat desecration.
I will continue...