Amritsar: Pakistani national Raja Ali Muhammad may not have an appointment with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh but is sure that Mohana, his childhood friend, is waiting for him.
The farmer from Gah, the ancestral village of the Indian Prime Minister in Pakistan's Chakwal district, crossed over from the Wagah-Attari border on Friday.
"Mohana (as Manmohan Singh was called in his village) is my childhood friend. He sent me a letter recently inviting me to meet him anytime. I don't need an appointment with him even though he must be a busy man. For me, he is a friend first and a PM later," Raja told reporters in Amritsar.
The visitor is carrying memories for the Prime Minister: soil from the village and their primary school, a pair of Punjabi juttis (traditional shoes), water from the village and a couple of photo-frames.
Manmohan's family moved to Amritsar city 1947 after Partition. Raja studied with Manmohan in mid-1930s in the village primary school in Gah.
Clad in a white pathani suit and a white turban, Raja said he would go to Delhi on Saturday to meet his friend. "I am already feeling young after coming here."
"The entire village was very happy when he became Prime Minister of India in 2004. We are naming a road and school in his name as he has become the most famous former resident of village," he said.
He says that things started to change for Gah village after Manmohan became PM here. "A better road and school are there. A solar power system gifted by India has also been installed," he pointed out.
Manmohan has not been to Pakistan after becoming prime minister. He is expected to go there later this year following an invitation from the Pakistani government.
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