Mumbai woman traces father’s family to Swat Valley in Pakistan

A decades-old search by a woman living in Mumbai, India, for her father's ancestral family has finally led her to Swat Valley in Pakistan, where relatives of her late father, Shaibar Lala, have reportedly been traced to the village of Baha, according to a report.

Rehana Bibi had appealed on social media for help in locating her father's family in Swat.

According to her account, her father was a Pashtun from Swat who moved from the region to Mumbai before the creation of Pakistan and later settled there permanently.

She said her father had told her that his ancestral village was Bor in Swat and that the family belonged to the Yousafzai tribe.

Her grandfather was named Muhammad Ali and her grandmother Khan Toli.

Muhammad Ali had three marriages, while Shaibar Lala was a son from his second wife.

Following her appeal on social media, people from Baha in Swat came forward with information about the family.

They said Shaibar Lala's ancestral roots were in Baha and the family was associated with the Sinakhel branch of the Yousafzai tribe.

Family sources said Shaibar Lala's brothers, Amir Khan, Daulat Khan and Dilawar Khan, have passed away, but their descendants and other members of the extended family still live in Baha.

Members of the older generation of Shaibar Lala's siblings have also died, while their children and descendants remain in the village.

Bakhth Nawaz, Bashir Khan and other members of the family from Baha have invited Rehana Bibi to visit Pakistan and Swat. They said she would be warmly welcomed and offered hospitality if she wished to visit her father's ancestral village and meet her relatives.

Family members said reconnecting after several decades would be a moment of happiness and could provide an emotional and memorable reunion for Rehana and her father's relatives.

The search that began in Mumbai has thus led Rehana Bibi to Baha in Swat, raising hopes that relatives separated for generations may finally be reunited.