Early Life
Milkha Singh was born on 17
October 1935 at Govindpura,a village 10 kilometres from Muzaffargarh
city in Punjab Province,British India (now Muzaffargarh District, Pakistan) in
a Sikh Rathore Rajput family.He was one of 15 siblings, eight of whom died
before the Partition of India. He was orphaned during the Partition, when his
parents, a brother and two sisters were killed in the violence that ensued. He
witnessed these killings.Escaping the troubles in Punjab, where killings of
Hindus and Sikhs were continuing,by moving to Delhi, India, in 1947, Singh
lived for a short time with a married sister and was briefly imprisoned at
Tihar jail for travelling on a train without a ticket. His sister, Ishvar, sold
some jewellery to obtain his release.He spent some time at a refugee camp in
Purana Quila and at a resettlement colony in Shahdara, both in Delhi.
