ISLAMABAD: When 90-year-old Indian woman Reena Varma returns to India after visiting her family home in Pakistan’s Rawalpindi, now she plans to work for “love, peace and prosperity” for the people of the two sides. Reena Varma, the only survivor of six children and two parents, is the only member of the family who visited her ancestral house after over 75 years since the family crossed the border into India in May 1947.
In August 1947, India was divided into two separate dominions—India and Pakistan. Millions of Hindus from Pakistan headed towards India, while millions of Muslims migrated from India to Muslim-majority Pakistan. The partition of India caused families to be separated and also resulted in a massacre that claimed the lives of thousands of people. Over seven decades later, ties between Pakistan and India, who have also fought three wars over the issue of Kashmir, remain tense.
Reena Varma was 15 years old girl when she left for Solan, India, along with her siblings for vacations shortly before the partition, in May 1947. They never returned to their home, Rawalpindi and settled in Pune, India. Reena Varma spoke highly of the welcome she received in Pakistan upon returning to her ancestral house.
She told the media that people in Pakistan were not only welcoming but more than welcoming, “they (Pakistanis) gave a lot of love to me and of course, my feelings were the same.” She said that the main takeaway of her visit to Pakistan is peace, love and prosperity. She expressed mix feeling after visiting her childhood home in Rawalpindi.
Reena Varma’s daughter drove her to Wagah border, which separates the two sides, to cross over to Pakistan for the trip. Varma was received by the members of an ‘India Pakistan Heritage Club’, a social media group making effort to reconnect people on both sides of the border. She expressed happiness to see her home in Rawalpindi, Pakistan after decades of struggle. She said that her home is in original condition and the owners are keeping it very well. Varma said that her mother always wanted to return to Pakistan but was not able to do so.
Earlier, Reena Varma briefly visited Lahore in 1954 to watch Pakistan-England cricket match but couldn’t visit Rawalpindi. In 1965, she got her passport to visit Pakistan, but the plan got canceled. Varma’s desire to visit her home in Rawalpindi was reignited when Imran William, one of the members of the heritage club social media group, located her home in Rawalpindi and shared images with her. Reena Varma applied for a visit visa to Pakistan but the request was turned down but always believed she would get the visa clearance to visit her home in Pakistan. She was finally able to get a visa to Pakistan following help of former State Minister for Foreign Affairs, Hina Rabbani Khar.
