Time flies, but memories are there forever

Gurvinder Singh

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, January 9

Visiting his alma mater, 86-year-old Hamza was nostalgic about SCD Government College and the city where he studied and spent his youth before Partition.

He is the member of the Senate, the upper House of Majlis-e-Shoora, the Parliament of Pakistan, and has also served as the member of the National Assembly of Pakistan in 1962 and 1968.

He also paid a visit to his ancestral house at Dholewal and said he vividly remembered his childhood and youth spent here. “I studied at Islamia School and used to go to Government College on a bicycle,” he said.

In Punjab, Government College, Lahore, used to be the number one college while the Government College for Boys, Ludhiana, used to be the next in those days. He pursued BA economics here, but completed the third year in Pakistan after Partition. He said he fondly remembered his friends.

The father of former MLA Harish Rai Dhanda, Kulbhushan Rai, used to be his friend. “I still cherish those days,” he said.

Talking about the division of Punjab, he said, “I cannot tell you how emotional I feel about the fact that Punjab was divided,” he said. “The division of Punjab was a crime. Punjab used to be bigger than Germany. And it is tragic that people from both the sides of Punjab cannot visit each other,” he said.

He said he was in favour of providing all facilities at Nankana Sahib. “Devotees should get all facilities here,” he said.

He added that people wanted peace and harmony between the two countries. There is, in fact, affection among the people in general. There was effort to change the name of Toba Tek Singh, but people opposed the move because of their emotional connect with the name and heritage.

He said his wife was also from Dholewal. She became a school headmistress. Both his sons are engineers and daughters doctors.

His son Ikrema Hamza, an engineer in Islamabad who accompanied him, said he was a proud son of Hamza because he had been upright and honest throughout his life. He used to go to the Pakistan National Assembly on a bicycle. One could see luxury cars parked there. But he was proud of it. “We are proud of him as he never left honesty,” he said.

Ikrema Hamza said it was unfortunate that Punjabi was not taught in educational institutions.

“It is sad that we can’t learn the language,” he said.