An Indian woman who crossed the border to meet her Facebook friend in Pakistan last week had told her husband and the local media on Sunday that she would return home by Aug 20, when her visa would expire.
But on Tuesday, Ms Anju, who has two children, got married to her 29-year-old Pakistani friend Nasrulla, after converting to Islam and changing her name to Fatima, reported the Times of India.
The 35-yer-old, born in Uttar Pradesh and living in Rajasthan, had travelled to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan at the invitation of Mr Nasrulla. The two met online three years ago.
Netizen Naimat Khan tweeted that the pair got married in a court in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Upper Dhir and shared a video of the couple at a tourist spot.
Ms Anju reportedly told the court that she had willingly arrived in Pakistan.
Indian media reported that she entered Pakistan through the Attari checkpoint on July 22 and has a visa to remain in Pakistan till Aug 21.
According to Upper Dhir District Police Officer Mushtaq Khan, Ms Anju travelled legally to Pakistan and she can request the Pakistan Home Ministry to extend her stay.
Ms Anju was born in Kailor village in Uttar Pradesh and moved to Alwar in Rajasthan after marriage.
Her husband Arvind told local media he did not know that she had gone to Pakistan. All Ms Anju told him was that she was going to Jaipur in Rajasthan and would return after a few days.
Her father Gaya Prasad Thomas told reporters at Bouna village in Madhya Pradesh’s Gwalior district that she has ruined the future of her two children.
“The way she ran away leaving her two children – a 13-year-old girl and a five-year-old boy – and husband behind... she did not even think of her children. If she wanted to do this, she should have divorced her husband first. She is no more (alive) for us,” he said.
Ms Anju’s story has similarities with that of Ms Seema Haider, a Pakistani mother of four, who sneaked into India in May to live with her Indian lover Sachin Meena. The two had met online while playing the video game PUBG in 2019.
After her illegal entry into India, the Anti-Terrorist Squad of Uttar Pradesh Police questioned Ms Haider 30, and Mr Meena, 22, and his father Netrapal Singh for two days.
Two video cassettes, four mobile phones, five “authorised” Pakistani passports, one “unused passport” and an identity card were recovered from her.
Last Friday, Ms Haider filed a mercy petition with India’s President Droupadi Murmu requesting that she, along with her four children, be allowed to stay at her “matrimonial home” in Uttar Pradesh’s Greater Noida.
In the petition, Ms Haider said she was in love with Mr Meena and came to India with her four children to live with him.
The Pakistan citizen claimed she had converted to Hinduism and got married to Mr Meena according to Hindu rites and rituals at the Pashupatinath temple in Kathmandu, Nepal, in March.
She told a Hindi news portal: “It hurts when people speak ill of me. No one has said anything good about me.
“I don’t think my four children and I will put any burden on India. If I get citizenship, I will show myself to be a good person. I won’t betray it.”
Indo-Asian News Service
