E-Paper
Descendants of martyr Bhai Mati Singh still live in ancestral village in Pakistan
The Chibber clan had no intention of leaving the home and hearth but his father’s uncle was killed in the riots, following which the decision was taken to migrate to Delhi; Ravinder Kumar Chibber’s father could not bear the misery of the refugee camp in Delhi and returned to Pakistan. Ravinder says has no regrets that his father preferred to stay in Kariyala near Chakwal in Pakistan while rest of the family migrated to India in 1947
Kariyala village near Chakwal city in Rawalpindi division of Pakistan was once the hub of the Mohyal Brahmin Sikh community, founded by Baba Parag Das Chibber. However, only one Chibber family continued to stay here after Partition and does so till date.
Ravindar Kumar Chibber, 67, says: “I was born and brought up here and have no regrets that my father chose to stay on.” He was speaking to Daily Urdu Corner on YouTube. He said that his father Jaggat Singh was an influential person, being a zaildar in charge of 40 villages besides being the village headman.
The Chibber clan had no intention of leaving the home and hearth but his father’s uncle was killed in the riots, following which the decision was taken to migrate to Delhi.
However, his father could not bear the misery of the refugee camp in Delhi and returned to Pakistan. He retained his property but not the influential positions of colonial times.
Chibber traces his lineage to the 13th generation of Bhai Mati Singh, who was martyred in Delhi along with his younger brother Bhai Sati Singh for supporting Guru Tegh Bahadur a day before the martyrdom of the ninth Guru of the Sikhs.
In the early years of Sikh religion, many Mohyals had become followers of the Sikh Gurus. Ravinder says: “We have lived in amity with the Muslim villagers here. They participate in our Hindu-Sikh festivals and we participate in their festivals. He has visited his relatives several times in India and vice-versa but home is the Kariyala village which stands on top of the Surla hills. “Fate decided that we stay here; I was educated in the government school and college in Chakwal and belong here. I have never had the urge to migrate to India,” he says.
He has rights to his father’s property and does regular pilgrimage to Nankana Sahib and Katas Raj.
