Manmohan Singh’s childhood friend in Pak dies

AMRITSAR - Raja Mohammed Ali, the childhood friend of Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh breathed his last in Pakistan last night.

“Raja ji suffered a massive heart attack last night which took his life. His Janaza was offered in the evening today,” Rashmi Talwar, a writer was informed about the sad demise by the grand daughter of Raja Mohammed Ali Asifa Azkar and grandson Raja Asad Ali via phone from Pakistan.

The Prime Minister’s Office has also been informed about the demise of Dr Manmohan Singh’s friend from Gah village, the ancestral village of the Prime Minister in Pakistan’s Chakwal district.

Earlier in 2008, Raja Mohammed Ali, who studied with Dr Manmohan Singh till class 4 in the village school had come to India via Wagah Indo -Pak Border in Amritsar to meet him.

He was hosted then by DAV Public School headed by its Principal Neera Sharma.

Thereafter, he met Dr Manmohan Singh in Delhi and was covered by the world media as one of those unforgettable moments in history, when the Indian Prime Minister met his Pakistani classmate.

Raja ji had then brought the soil and water of Dr Manmohan Singh’s house and of their school for him.

He had also presented Dr Manmohan Singh with their village footwear, besides a 150-year old silk shawl made by his own grandparents.

The meeting in New Delhi was an emotional bonding between two long lost childhood friends-one a farmer (Raja Mohd Ali, Pakistan) and the other a Prime Minister (Dr Manmohan Singh).

Rashmi Talwar along with Joginder Kohli, who too had studied with both Dr Manmohan Singh and Raja ji, have expressed their deepest condolence to the aggrieved family of Raja ji on the sad demise. By Ravinder Singh Robin(ANI)