People from Sharifs’ ancestral village hope to have better ties with Pakistan

Sikh community from Jati Umra Amritsar send best wishes to Sharif Family

Where newly elected PM Shehbaz is receiving best wishes from the leaders of the world, the people from his ancestral village, Jati Umra, which is situated in Amritsar, India, are also sending him congratulatory messages, hoping for him to visit the place and enhance relations between both countries.

Ravinder Singh Robin, an Indian journalist, posted a video on his Twitter handle in which he interviewed locals from Jati Umra. The place is merely 50 kilometres away from Lahore, after which the Sharif’s estate in Raiwind, Lahore, is named.

A local, while recalling the 2013 visit of the then chief minister of Punjab, Shehbaz Sharif, said, “When he visited in December 2013, our local administration carried out development work to honour him and now we hope that after becoming the prime minister of Pakistan, Shehbaz, will again ask PM Modi to provide us a hospital and a college for girls.”

PM Shehbaz’s great grandfather Mian Muhammad Baksh is also buried there.

“There are two significant places here that belong to the Sharif family. One of their places has been merged into our local Gurudwara. So, whenever we pray in our holy place, we pray for them as well. And the second place is the grave of their great grandfather. Anyone from their family who visits our village pays homage at this tomb,” said the local.

The journalist also discovered that many youngsters from that village were working in the Sharif family’s factories and businesses in other countries.

“They had factories in Dubai and many of our youth have worked there for 10-15 years. Now they have some business in Doha where our people get jobs by virtue of their relationship to Sharifs’ ancestral village,” said another local of Jati Umra.

The Sikh community also expressed their happiness and said that they knew the relationship between both countries will flourish with Sharif coming into power.