When the entire nation was happily celebrating the arrival of Bangla New Year 1422 on Tuesday, some families in Haripur and Baliadangi upazilas of Thakurgaon were eagerly waiting for an event yet two days ahead.
And what the next two days brought was a tear-jerking mix of happiness and sorrow. What the next two days brought was a somewhat reunion of family members living across the border between Bangladesh and India.
On the occasion of Pohela Boishakh, the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) and India’s Border Security Force (BSF) arranged for the mass family reunion on Wednesday and Thursday for the families who got separated during the 1947 Partition.
People living in Molani, Dabri, Betna, Bujruk, and Ratnai areas in Haripur and Baliadangi had the opportunity to see their estranged family members living in India’s Sreepur, Nargaon, Katarganj and Borra. Security was beefed up on both the sides of the border as thousands of people turned up for the emotional event.
But the reunion was incomplete – the families met, but was still separated by the barbed wire fence that marked the border between the two neighbouring countries.
People were seen desperately trying to reach their loved ones, some silently shedding tears, others wailing for not being able to embrace their family members. Srabanti Rani, from Mundumala area in Baliadangi, could not stem her tears as she kept staring at her mother on the other side of the fence.
“This is the first time I have seen my mother after I got married. I don’t remember when I last hugged her. She is so near, yet so far,” a sobbing Srabanti told the Dhaka Tribune.
The sentiment was somewhat similar among all coming to the reunion.
Haripur Upazila Parishad Chairman Nurul Islam told the Dhaka Tribune that before the partition, the upazila used to be a part of India’s Dinajpur district. “This is mainly why these families got separated then. Now they get to reunite only once a year.”
After meeting their families, many asked the government to take steps so that this temporary reunion could turn into a permanent one.