Muslim shop owner awaits return of Hindu tenant for 73 years after India-Pakistan partition

A Hindu shopkeeper who had rented a shop from a Muslim man in the Loralai province of Pakistan was forced to abandon his post and return to India during the India-Pakistan partition period in 1947.

The poor shopkeeper Kakkar, who was forced to leave, asked his Muslim landlord not to rent out the shop and wait for his return, reported the India-based online news portal Sikh24.

Almost 73 years have passed since then. The shopkeeper did not return, but his business is still securely locked and waiting for the man who will quite likely never come back.

The trustworthy Muslim owner, who has never opened the shop’s gates since then, remained true to his word although 73 years have passed.

He reportedly died a while ago but didn’t forget to charge his children to wait for the return of the Hindu man, becoming a symbol of loyalty and trust between two states that have been at loggerheads with each other for decades.

Hindu-majority India and Muslim-majority Pakistan, consisting of West and East Pakistan, were partitioned in 1947. The bloody migration, one of the worst in modern history, killed an estimated one million Hindus and Muslims.