New Delhi

Reena Chibber was 15 years old at the time of partition in 1947, and though nearly 75 years have passed since then and yet she “could not remove her ancestral home, her neighborhood and the streets from her heart.”

Stories of Partition

At the age of 92, Reena Chibber has finally entered Pakistan on Saturday to make it to her ‘home’ in Rawalpindi, Punjab.

As a goodwill gesture, the Pakistani High Commission has issued a three-month visa to her. OPn the Pakistan side, Sajjad Haider, an Islamabad-based journalist, helped her after seeing her posts on social media in which she pined for her ‘Prem Niwas.’

Reena Chibber in Pakistan

As she entered Wagah via Attari border, Reena  told the waiting media persons she urges the governments of both the countries to "work together" to ease visa restrictions to make "coming and going easy for us." the Express Tribune reported.

Reena reminisced of a multi-cultural diverse community that was thriving in 'Pindi before the Partition as she was driven from the border to Rawalpindi.

"My siblings had friends who would come over to our house from various communities, including Muslims," she said, remembering that "our house-help was also a diverse mix of people". In 1947, after the partition, her family moved to India.

Prem Niwas 1935 - 'home' of Reena Chibber in Rawalpindi, Pakistan

Reena’s story has been chronicled by Rashmi Talwar, an Amritsar-based journalist. She writes: Reena’s memories of her address ‘Prem Niwas, 1935’ (written on her home) ‘Prem Gali’,  named after her father Bhai Prem Chand Chhibber; ‘DAV College Road’, Rawalpindi; are etched in her heart. Recalling those times with fondness Reena says-“Our house remained open to friends and family; Muslim friends frequented our home, some didn’t eat cooked food in our home, but it was gracefully accepted, as a religious taboo. We celebrated almost all festivals including Diwali, Holi, Eid, and Gurpurav, together. Even the environment then was so congenial. I particularly remember Abida, my friend.”

Reena’s family had to suddenly move to India giving up everything they had due to partition and the violence accompanying it.

Oblivious of the tumult that was soon to hit her and thousands of Indians in partition, Reena was trekking in Shimla along with her two sisters and three boys- children of family friends on August 14. Her mother boarded a train to Shimla looking for her daughters as violence was spreading in Punjab.

The family stayed in Solan in the post partition period and later moved to Delhi.

Sajjad Haider, Pakistani journalist who found Reena's house

Reena says her father had no money to make a house although the government had allotted him a piece of land in Delhi.

Reena, who lives in Kondhva, Pune, considers the ‘Pindi’ home as her only home and started searching for links to her during the pandemic of Covid-19.  

Reena had applied for a visa in 1965 to visit Pakistan, but she says she could not acquire permission amid high tensions due to the war between the two neighbours.

She still managed to visit Lahore to watch a match between Pakistan and England as Pakistan had issued visas to Indians at that time. Reena claims that she had expressed the desire to visit her ancestral home on social media in 2021, when Sajjad Haider contacted her and sent her images of the house. She said although she roamed in Lahore for three days, she always thought of "Prwem Niwas that was only 300 km away." 

Reena Chibber

In a video on social media, she claimed that she had applied for a visa to visit the place in 2021 which was rejected. She then turned to social media and expressed her desire to visit Pakistan. She also tagged the now Pak Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar in her post.

According to Reena, the minister immediately directed the Pakistani High Commission to issue her a visa and soon after, she was contacted by the high commission in New Delhi. After meeting with the Commission's Aftab Hassan Khan, she was issued a visa for 90 days.

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She told media persons that she might even consider staying back in Pakistan till August 14, Pakistan’s independence day.