SURENDA ULLAL
CHICAGO: The Punjabi Academy of Chicago, Navraaz Kaur Productions (NKPI) and Pakistan Heritage and Cultural Association (PHACA) celebrated the opening of the Kartarpur Corridor with a Global Punjabi Milaap at Palatine Public Library.
During the course of celebration, tributes were paid to Jagindar Singh Ramdev who lost all his family members except his mother during the partition of India and Pakistan.
Thakar Singh Basati welcomed the audience and invited Dr Hal Schneider, who is a trustee of Palatine Library Board. He informed the audience about the services Palatine Library offers, including about 50 Punjabi books.
Sajid Chaudhry, co-host of Global Punjabi Milaap from Pakistan side and Chairman of PHACA, told the audience that Global Punjabi Milaap was started in 2003 to bring together people of Punjab who migrated in 1947 and live out of India and Pakistan so that they can share memories of their childhood.
Stating that the division of India and Pakistan was politically motivated, Chaudhry said that Punjabi people have not lost love and respect for each other even though they suffered most for the division.
Navraaz Kaur Basati, President of NKPI, addressed the audience with a couplet of Punjabi songs “Tere bina raanjna ve heer”.
Sardar Gurcharan Singh Banwait and Javed Bhatty was were the guests of honor at the event.
Bhatty said if the Berlin Wall can collapse under people pressure, so can boundary lines between India and Pakistan.
Banwait said he has been going to Pakistan and noticed that gurdwaras were totally neglected.
