Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, July 25: It is Seema Haider episode in reverse. In a surprising turn of events, an Indian woman who obtained a short-time visiting visa to Pakistan and had legally travelled to a remote village in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province a few days ago, has married her Pakistani facebook friend Nasrullah.
Before marriage Anju, her Indian name, had converted to Islam and assumed the name of Fatima. A video has gone viral showing Anju (now Fatima) holding hands with Nasrullah visiting scenic mountainous spots or sitting next to each other in garden.
Only last month, a 27-year old Pakistani woman Seema Haider had illegally entered India via Nepal with her four children aged two to seven years to meet her 22-year old social media friend Sachin Meena living in Greater Noida and then got married, She in turn had converted to Hinduism before marrying Sachin and are living together with the consent of his family members, though the Indian police is investigating her illegal entry from various angles.
Media reports from Pakistan said Anju and Nasrullah’s union was formalised in a “nikah” ceremony at the district court in Upper Dir, the only district for which she was originally issued the Pakistani visa. Malakand Division Deputy Inspector General Nasir Mehmood Satti confirmed the nikah of Anju (35) and Nasrullah (29) stating that the woman has taken the name of Fatima after conversion to Islam.
According to police, the couple appeared in the district court in Dir Bala in the presence of family members of Nasrullah, police personnel and lawyers. Due to security reasons, the woman was escorted to her new in-law’s home from court under police security.
What surprised her relatives in India is that only on Monday both Anju and Nasrullah had denied any “love angle” in her visit to Pakistan ad had stated that she was on a short visit to meet her “friend” Nasrullah and staying with the female members of his family in their village home and would return to India at the expiry of her visa on August 20.
Nasrullah had even told the Indian media on phone from his village Kulsho that there was no love affair between them and that he had no plans to marry Anju. Nasrullah and Anju became friends on Facebook in 2019. “Anju is on a visit to Pakistan and we have no plan to marry,” Nasrullah had said. His village is about 300 km from Peshawar. “She will go back to her country on August 20 after her visa expires. Anju is living in a separate room of his home with the other female members of my family,” he had said.
The 35-year old woman was married while in India and they have a 15 year old daughter and a six-year old son. The family stayed in Alwar in Rajasthan. Her husband Arvind was hopeful that his wife would return soon.
Her family was not aware about her plans to visit Pakistan. Her husband said she had left Alwar saying that she was going to Jaipur but later they came to know that she had landed in Pakistan. From Pakistan she had also spoken to her husband telling him that she would return in time.
Anju’s father had also earlier claimed that she was “mentally disturbed and eccentric” but was not involved in any extra-marital affair. He had also said it was wrong on her part to go to Pakistan without informing anyone assuming that she was only on a short-visit to the neighbouring country.