3 Partition survivors recall their emotional arrival in Pakistan

The creation of Pakistan was a result of many struggles, hardships and a hope for a better tomorrow.

But migrating to Pakistan was not easy. For those who made it, it was a liberating feeling to have survived the perilous journey.

Three partition survivors, Abdul Khaliq Khan, Gulzar Bano and Syed Mohammad Moin, recall their feelings of joy upon their arrival to Pakistan in 1947.

About being overcome with joy and unable to control their emotions and passion, Bano recalls, "Everyone fell down onto the earth, started picking up the soil of Pakistan and eating it."

Khan said," Everybody stood there and prayed, and offered collective prayer thanking God for reaching a place where our dignity was protected, where our lives were safe, where our wealth was secure."

Moin reminisces about the feeling of freedom and how he could taste it with his first meal there, saying, "We were not able to walk normally, you know. Still the limbs were jammed. I saw somebody distributing roti and saalan. I was the first to rush and secure a bread and saalan, and that was the tastiest bread and saalan of my life... [It tasted like] freedom. And this is how this journey ended."

This article is part of a week-long series on achieving independence and the early years of Pakistan, run collaboratively by Images and The Citizens Archive of Pakistan (CAP).

CAP is a non-profit organization dedicated to cultural and historic preservation. It seeks to educate the community, foster an awareness of our nation’s history and instill pride in Pakistani citizens about their heritage.