By Jupinderjit Singh
I do not have many bright memories of Khalra, my ancestral village. It is just 11 km short of Lahore and is situated right on the Indian side of the Radcliffe Line in old Amritsar district.
I relate more to Patiala. I was born and brought up there. Unlike most kids visiting their native village and growing up on unbridled love of maternal and paternal grandparents (the daadke and the naanke), my visits were brief. But can one escape one's roots? Often during discussions about one's family, I talk about Khalra and how it is perched right on the border and how border pillars were located right on our land in the pre - fencing era of the '70 and the '80s.
Not many know about the village. I often have to bracket it with Bhikhiwind, a larger village located not far away. It is a small town now. When people still don't show much recognition of the village, I educate them about the valour of Amritsaris. I narrate lofty tales of how Bhikhiwind-Khalra was a place known for its martial race.
Other than hardened farmers, the place is known for courageous soldiers, cops and also infamous terrorists. Amritsaris have been known for their fighting skills , their sense of humour, their uncontrolled eating habits and especially their short temper.
Bhikhiwind- Khalra being on the border does not remain much in the limelight, which made it difficult for me to tell people where it was. The place had three major events, to the best of my knowledge, in the last several decades. It was known all over when the late jathedar Gurcharan Singh Tohra was put under arrest in a guest house ( I don't know forest or PWD guest house) there during the peak time of militancy. Khalra also remained in the news for being the native place of human rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra. Bhikhiwind had been in the limelight due to the exploits of a family which fought militants for nearly two decades from their highly fortified house, which militants could never break into.
Today, Bhikhiwind is known the world over. Sarabjit Singh, who hailed from Bhikhiwind and was killed a few days ago in a Lahore jail, was accused of being an Indian spy and a terrorist. I feel proud at his martyrdom. As I read about him straying by mistake into Pakistani terrirtory, I recall how in the late 1970s it was no big deal for area residents to venture into a Pakistan area despite the three wars fought by the two countries. I have hazy memories of how a group of youths made me step into Pakistan's territory by mistake on a visit to the Indo-Pak border. The young boys even challenged each other on how many steps they can go across the border, which was nothing but an imaginary line between the pillars.
Once a youth drove his tractor around the border pillar much to the amusement of others. Men of the Pakistan Rangers and BSF soldiers were located at quite a distance and not much notice was taken. I was fear-struck the first time he did it. I was an urabanite grown on the history of hate between the two countries and had seen the border line on the maps. Soon, fun overtook the fear. I too strayed into "enemy" fields on a few occasions on foot and on the tractor. It was fun. It was sheer adrenaline.
To get more attention of people not knowing Bhikhiwind -Khalra, I often narrate such experiences on the border. Sarabjit may have done this several times in his life. On that fateful day he seemed to have gone too far. And it was no longer "cool" for anyone to cross over like that after the 1980s.
Sarabjit is a true martyr for us. It doesn't matter if he was a spy or not. He suffered as an Indian. By my small experience of reporting on spying and the life in border villages right from Rajasthan to Kargil, I am very sure that Pakistan must have tried to lure him into becoming a double agent. It is so common among spies. But he didn't. He stood his ground. And that is what makes him a martyr.
But does the story end there? Would he be the last one sacrificed at the altar of Indo-Pak hatred and animosity for each other? He can surely be not compared with the Bombay Butcher kasab, but wasn't Kasab too just a pawn in the game of hatred , mistrust between the two countries? I am reminded of the famous words of Gerald Seymour, who in his book, Harry's Game, famously said in 1975 , " One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter."
Killing each other in retaliation won't serve any purpose. The day both countries realise this, Sarabjit's can venture again unnoticed and unperturbed into the other's territory.
(first published on : http://www.tribuneindia.com/2013/20130521/edit.htm#5)
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