Chakwal’s son, India’s PM: Manmohan mourned also in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: The last rites of former Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh were performed at Delhi’s Nigambodh Ghat crematorium across the border, yet the sounds of mourning emerged from Pakistan as well. He was the last leader in the Indian leadership who was born in what is now Pakistan. Partition inflicted wounds on his life and family, but when the time came, he prioritised peace with Pakistan as it was also in India’s interest. After Partition, Manmohan Singh never returned to Pakistan. “Manmohan Singh was a soft-spoken Indian leader whose vision transformed the Indian economy. He genuinely desired peace with Pakistan”, said former Foreign Secretary Aizaz Chaudhry when contacted by The News here on Saturday.

Although Manmohan Singh was the prime minister of India, he was also a son of the small village of Gah in Chakwal, Punjab, Pakistan, where he was born in September 1932. After receiving his early education in Chakwal, he studied at Punjab University, Lahore. After Partition, Manmohan Singh was among those who left their homes and migrated to India, never to return -- yet his love for Jhelum and (at that time Chakwal was a tehsil of district Jhelum) Chakwal remained undiminished.

His daughter, Daman Singh, mentioned in her book ‘Strictly Private’ that when asked why he didn’t want to return to his village Gah, he replied that his grandfather was killed there. Although he never returned, Manmohan Singh invited his childhood friends from Gah to India in 2008 to relive old memories. His name is still registered in his school’s record, a copy of which was sent to him as a gift after he became prime minister.

The village of Gah remained relatively unknown until 2004 when Manmohan Singh became prime minister, drawing attention from both Pakistanis and Indians. Regarding his sincerity for peace with Pakistan, Shivshankar Menon, a prominent Indian intellectual and former diplomat who served alongside Manmohan Singh as National Security Adviser (and also as a former Indian high commissioner to Islamabad), revealed in a recent article on his passing, “I once told him that the Pakistanis in Gah, his original home before Partition, were very emotional in their pleas for a visit by him. What he then told me about what his family had undergone during Partition, the family members they had lost, and the wounds, horrified me. When I asked him how he could still seek peace with Pakistan, his answer was simple, that it was in India’s interest, no matter what emotion might suggest. He then gave me a reasoned and logical set of arguments for what he attempted with Pakistan, which I believe, offers a way that future governments will turn to when the time is ripe.” Menon’s words, aligned with those of former Pakistani Foreign Secretary Aizaz Chaudhry, highlight Manmohan’s genuine advocacy for peace.

During his tenure as prime minister, Manmohan Singh expressed a desire to visit his village in Gah with Shahid Malik, the experienced diplomat and then Pakistani high commissioner. This visit could not take place due to the postponement of his trip to Pakistan in April-May 2008.

During his tenure, Indo-Pak peace talks progressed, and a four-point agreement with General Musharraf was finalised, paving the way for Singh’s visit to Pakistan. Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed recounted an interesting incident, “When Chaudhry Shujaat (head of PML-Q) and I met Prime Minister Singh in Delhi in 2006, I told him in Punjabi, Dil wada karo (Expand your heart),’ and Ch Shujaat Hussain also said, “hun waqat a gia hai koi agreement kariye, tusi v agay vadu (now is the time to do some agreement, you please also move forward) to which Manmohan Singh said laughingly replied jn Punjabi, “Tusi mainu marwa na daina” (don’t make me get in trouble).

Recalling Singh, Hussain said, “Dr Manmohan Singh was a brilliant economist and reformer who, in 1992, sought advice from Pakistan on economic liberalisation. I met him twice -- the first time in New Delhi with Chaudhry Shujaat in 2006, and earlier in 2005 with President Musharraf at the UN in New York. He was soft-spoken yet formidable. His visit to Pakistan was scheduled for May 2007 but was thwarted by the Lawyers’ Movement”. The agreement was to be signed in May 2007, but the Lawyers’ Movement against General Musharraf commenced in March 2007, stalling the accord with Manmohan Singh before it could be signed.

In 2008, amid rising Indo-Pak tensions post-Mumbai attacks, under Singh’s leadership, India chose dialogue over confrontation.

Serving as the Reserve Bank of India’s head from 1982 to 1985 and as finance minister from 1991/92 to 1996, Singh set India on a trajectory that has led it to become one of South Asia’s fastest-growing economies. From 2004 to 2014, he served as prime minister, fostering not only economic advancement but also implementing effective laws for public access to information.

Senior journalist from Chakwal, Nabeel Anwar Dhakku, told this correspondent that, “On Friday, villagers of Gah gathered at the residence of Manmohan Singh’s childhood friend, the late Raja Mohammad Ali, to mourn Singh’s passing. They felt as though they had lost their village head. When Singh was elected Prime Minister in 2004, the villagers celebrated with drumming. They were ecstatic at his second win, but on that Friday, the village was engulfed in grief.”

Manmohan Singh may have been the last politician in the current Indian leadership to have been born in Pakistan. His passing delays the long-held dream of Indo-Pak peace becoming a reality. Although he took his last breath across the border in Delhi, the sounds of grief could be heard from across this side of the border in his beloved Chakwal as well.