The Amarkhana border in Panchagarh Sadar upazila becomes Milan Mela, congregation, on Pahela Baishakh, the first day of the Bangla New Year, as thousands of Bangla-speaking people living on either side of the border got a unique opportunity to meet their relatives.
Local sources said standing on both sides of the barbed wire of the Amarkhana border, people of neighbouring Bangladesh and India exchanged greetings on Pahela Baishakh and talked with their near and dear ones.
People who came on Monday to meet their relatives from different parts of the country said they and their ancestors had been related in various ways for a long time but the 1947 partition made it hard for those living on either side of the border to meet.
They were seen exchanging various gifts including biscuits, chanachur (crispy local snack), pens and clothes as a token of good wishes.
Many could not check their tears as they saw near and dear ones after such a long time.
Younus Ali, 65, a resident of Vimvita village in Jalpaiguri, India, came to meet his brother Solaiman Ali of Maydandighi village in the Boda upazila in Panchagarh.
Solaiman told the Dhaka Tribune that he had met his elder brother after 20 years. Sultana Nasrin came from another village of Shiliguri in India to meet her sister Anjuman Smritee, an inhabitant of Panchagarh town.
Yasin Ali came from Birganj to meet with her daughter and son-in-law.
“Following the 1947 partition, relatives of many people became residents of the different countries on either sides of the border. I am one of them,” said Mobin Chowdhuri, ex-chairman of Amarkhana union in Panchagarh.
He urged the authorities to give them a chance to meet near and dear ones at the border every year on Pahela Baishakh.
Many people, especially those who cannot afford the cost of visiting their relatives via the legal process, come here every year to meet their friends and relatives. Sources at the Bangladesh Border Guard said they had unofficially allowed people to meet with their relatives on the special occasion considering the emotional nature of the issue.
BSF opens the door of the barbed wire fence to the people who come to the border after 11am and keeps it open for five hours.
