By Rajesh Bhat, TwoCircles.net

Despite nourishing two different faiths and living in two divided parts of the State throughout their lives yet the two Octogenarians from Jammu and Kashmir had a unique thing in common…… they had wished to go back to their roots and to die in their ancestral lands under the control of India and Pakistan.

Ghulam Mohd, a Muslim by faith, who lived for 60 years in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK), had wished to die in Indian part of Jammu and Kashmir, where he was born before the partition. Similarly, Basti Ram Tandon, a devout Hindu, who had to migrate from Muzaffarabad in 1947, was living in Bakshi Nagar area of Jammu. But before his death, he too had wished to visit his birth land in POK and to die there!

While Tandon’s wish got fulfilled in October 2005, Ghulam Mohd’s prayer was conceded on the afternoon of January 12, 2008 when he breathed his last in his ancestral village of Loran in border district of Poonch and was buried besides the graves of his parents and relatives as per his last wish.

Thanks to the introduction of "Karvaan-e-Aman” and opening of several permit points on Line of Control that these Octogenarians could visit their birth places falling in Poonch and Muzaffarabad districts .

It was on July 16 last year that Ghulam Mohammad crossed to India via Chakkan Da Bagh, on a permit enabling residents of divided Jammu and Kashmir to cross the LoC. Since July 16, Ghulam Mohd stayed with his Indian resident younger brother Mohd Ramzan and his family at Loran, Poonch.

After the expiry of his permit, Ghulam Mohd wanted to stay in India till his death and declined to go back to Mohajir Colony in Palandri area of PoK. The Indian authorities, however, objected to his prolonged stay on Indian side for rest of his life, as was wished by this octogenarian. In the meantime, Ghulam Mohd approached Jammu and Kashmir High Court. His plea was that he had crossed over to Pakistan inadvertently during partition, while his other family members continued to stay on this side of LoC. In his petition, Ghulam Mohd had expressed the desire to live and die in his ancestral land at Loran-Poonch and not to return to Palandari (PoK). The State High Court, on August 25 last restrained the Government from repatriating him till further orders.

As Ghulam Mohd was not keeping well, he breathed his last at the residence of his younger brother on January 12, 2008. The deceased’s relatives insisted on his burial in the village, saying that he had no relation across border wherefrom he had come on a permit. As there appeared no other option but to fulfill the last wish of the octogenarian, Ghulam Mohd was finally laid to rest in his ancestral village on the Indian side after certain religious and official formalities.

Almost the same fate was stored for Basti Ram Tandon but in a different fashion. Tandan died near Hatia Dupatta in Muzaffarabad, POK during the killer earthquake of October 2005 that rocked entire Jammu and Kashmir. Hatia Dupatta incidentally happened to be his birth-place which he had abandoned during partition.

Tandon had visited Hatia Dupatta along with his brother Jagdish Raj and nephew Subash in October 2005 while boarding Karvane-e-Aman--- a bus service linking Srinagar with Muzaffarabad.

On his arrival in Muzaffarabad, Basti Ram had wished to remain there for the rest of his life. Like in case of Ghulam Mohd, the authorities there had objected to his last wish.

But God was benevolent enough in granting him the last wish. It was on the morning of October 8, 2005 that Basti Ram lost his life in his ancestral village in this killer quake whiles the other two Tandons, accompanying him but were not part of his wish, had miraculously survived. Ghulam Mohd and Basti Ram got what they had wished. The death gave life to their wishes!