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<i>Unique reunion on Pahela Baishakh </i>

Bangla speaking people from both sides of Panchagrah border exchange new year's greetings

15 April 2009, 18:00 PM

NATIONAL

Quamrul Islam Rubaiyat, back from Panchagarh

Drawn by the urge to meet near and dear ones from either side of Bangladesh-India border, several thousand people of the two countries gather near the barbed wire fencing at Amarkhana in Panchagarh district to exchange Pahela Baishakh greetings.Photo: STAR

It was a different scene on Omarkhana border in Panchagarh Sadar upazila as Pahela Baishakh, the first day of Bangla New Year, brought a unique opportunity to meet for thousands of Bangla speaking people living on two sides of the border. Standing on both sides of the barbed wire on Omarkhana border, people of neighbouring Bangladesh and India exchanged greetings on the Bangla New Year and talked with their near and dear ones. They were seen giving various things including biscuits, chanachur, pens and clothes to each other as token of good wishes. Many of them could not check their tears as they saw near and near ones after a long time. As residents of the same country before the 1947 partition and creation of India and the then Pakistan, people of the area were related in various ways, said several people who came here on Tuesday. But after the partition, most of them, especially those who cannot manage expenditure to visit relatives through proper ways, became detached from their friends and relatives. Solimuddin, 60, of Gomostapur village under Jalpaiguri district in India, came here to meet his brother Ishaq Ali of Kolimjoth village under Tentulia upazila in Panchagarh. Ishaq told this correspondent that he met his elder brother after 41 years. Tanzina came from another village of Jalpaiguri in India to meet her sister Taslima, an inhabitant of Panchagarh town. Dalua Rani came from Dinajpur to meet with her daughter and son-in-law. “Following the 1947 partition, relatives of many people became residents of a different country on the other side of the border. I am one of them,” said Abdus Sattar, general secretary of Jalpaiguri district unit of Trinamul Congress. He urged the authorities to give chance to meet near and dear ones from the two sides of the border every year on Pahela Baishakh. Two officials of the Indian Border Security Force (BSF) and Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) said they allowed meeting between relatives living on two sides of the border following their request. Many people of the two countries, especially those who cannot afford the cost for visiting their relatives through maintaining legal procedure, come here every year to meet their friends and relatives.