Former Pakistan cricket captain Wasim Akram visited his ancestral village near Amritsar [Images], Punjab on Tuesday.

He took his father Chaudhary Muhammed Akram on a sentimental visit to Jawandiko Devi, the birth place and hometown of Muhhamed.

"My father is very excited about the visit because, since migrating to Pakistan during independence, he has never been to his village. But now, with relations improving between the two countries, I thought this is the best time to take him here," Wasim said.

Muhammed had to flee as a 14-year-old during the traumatic Partition days.

He spent over three hours in the village and met residents who were known to him before 1947.

He enquired about known landmarks. Pain was palpable on his face when told that they had been rooted out in the aftermath of Partition.

The father-son duo was accorded a warm welcome by hundreds of villagers who showered them with rose petals. Children of a private school put up a special function in their honour.

"I still remember the bloody days during 1947, it was blood all around and infants were crying sitting by dead bodies of their mothers. No one had the courage to come to extend help to the crying infants. I was hardly 14-years-old and trembling," Muhhamed said.

Photograph: STR/AFP/Getty Images