The heart of Puri finds ‘Pakistanpada,’ a refugee colony for past seven decades. Colloquially, it is called Pakistan.
In the 50s from the East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), a 7-member family of one Tarekeswar Karmakar has came to Puri to settle down after escaping a killer mob in own village Barkhagaon under Borisal district in East Pakistan amidst a widespread bloodbath of Hindu citizens.
Karmakar who died recently was just 10 years old then. This correspondent had interviewed him at his Puri residence.
Karmakar said they had a great fortune to live and die in Puri which is the abode of the Lord of the Universe. The refugee colony of the 50s at Puri beach is presently a fabulous tourist hotspot.
Karmakar recalled a meet with first president Dr Rajendra Prasad and former CMs Biju Patnaik, Biren Mitra and several tall leaders for visiting Pakistanpada in 1951. A goldsmith by profession with a jewellery shop and 35 acres of farmlands in Barkahgaon, his family jumped the LOC after a call from then Indian High Commissioner DK Mukherjee.
Nearly 25000 Hindus roaming from camps to camps in East Pakistan lastly crossed boarder and arrived the West Bengal’s Ranghat. After a month, a herd from
Ranhat camp reached Chandipur in Odisha and a year after, 25 families were deported to Puri with many parting ways to different places. Some were sent to Odisha’s Bhusandpur and some to the Andaman Nicobar Islands.
A matriculate from Puri Zilla School, Karmakar was a retired Government employee. Recalling his footprint in Puri, he said they had to first rest in thatched cottages for months provided with dry foods, clothes and candles by the district administration. The Collector assisted them with Rs 1,500 each for starting business, he said.
The octogenarian lamented that many of them have quit Pakistanpada in course of times who have no whereabouts as of now. Although some mocked at them as Pakistanis, the ground reality is the exodus never inhaled a sense of discrimination in Puri nor the locals looked at them with disdain. He said the beautiful gold and silver carvings of his father dazzling the Puri palace and mutts are now pride memoir of Indo-Pak relation of past.
Asked about his near and dear in East Pakistan, Karmakar revealed of having no ideas and perhaps they are no more, he said.
He told that a few years ago, he came across some neighbouring villagers on Puri beach who spoke him of his erstwhile Barkhagaon which had turned a busy town with mushrooming of high rises and malls all around.
When asked if he had ever thought of revisiting his birthplace, the Pakistan born Indian national broke down in a stoic silence.