NEW DELHI, Dec 5: A Pakistani woman on Tuesday crossed over to India from the Wagah-Attari International Border to marry a Kolkata resident with whom her marriage has been fixed in January.
Karachi resident Javeria Khanum crossed over into the Indian side from Attari in Amritsar district where she was welcomed by her fiancé Sameer Khan and some members of his family to the beats of ‘dhol’.
Khanum has been granted a 45-day visa after two previous visa rejections and the Covid pandemic stalled their plans for around five years. The couple, in a brief interaction with reporters at Attari, said “I have been granted a 45-day visa. I am very happy to be here. Just on arrival, I am already getting so much love here. In the first week of January the marriage will be solemnised,” she said.
She had tried to get a visa on two occasions, but got lucky the third time. “It is a happy ending and a happy beginning,” she said, expressing her happiness at being able to travel to India to get married. “Everyone back home was very happy. I can’t believe I have got the visa after five years,” she added.
Sharing how the couple got in touch, Khan said he expressed interest in marrying Khanum after seeing her photo on his mother’s phone. “This started in May 2018. I had come home from Germany where I was studying. I saw her photo on my mother’s phone and expressed my interest. I told my mother that I want to get married to Javeria,” he said.
(Manas Dasgupta)
