A 34-year-old married woman from Rajasthan’s Bhiwadi city crossed the border to meet her Facebook friend, a resident of Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region, last week.
This latest incident of a budding cross-border relationship comes within weeks of the Uttar Pradesh Anti Terror Squad (ATS) detaining Seema Haider, a Pakistani national who crossed over to India to meet Sachin Meena, a Noida-based Indian citizen. Haider who had entered India along with her four children was arrested for illegally entering India while Meena and his father were arrested for providing them shelter.
The incident came to light on Sunday when police reached the Anju’s home in Bhiwadi in the Alwar district of Rajasthan to enquire about her whereabouts after media reports were published on the case.
Her husband Arvind Kumar told the police that Anju left home on Thursday on the pretext of going to Amritsar but later the family came to know that she was actually in the city of Lahore in Pakistan.
In the latest case, Anju, according to her husband, said she had crossed over to Pakistan to meet her friend Nasarullah, adding that she would return to Bhiwadi in a few days.
Anju, an employee of a private firm in Bhiwadi, has been married to Arvind for 16 years and the couple have two children.
She is said to have met Nasarullah on Facebook four years ago and eventually fell in love following which they decided to meet in Pakistan.
Arvind said, “Anju got her passport made two years back. Though she never went abroad, she has to keep going many places for her work. But she didn’t tell me that she is going to Pakistan. But she said that she will be back in three to four days. I don’t want to file any complaint immediately with the police.”
Meanwhile, Nasarullah in an interview to a television channel in Pakistan said, “We plan to get engaged in few days after which Anju will return to India to meet her family. We will get married in our next meeting in Pakistan. We kept trying for Anju’s visa for the last two years. Finally, she was granted the permission to visit Pakistan by crossing over from he Wagha border. We want to stay peacefully away from the media spotlight.”
Confirming the validity of Anju’s visa, the SHO of Upper Dir police station in Khyaber Pakhtunkhwa, Javed Khan told Pakistani media, “The two visited the police station on July 21 as per the protocol for a foreign national’s visit. The woman has a valid visa for 30 days. We didn’t find any illegal immigration issue. We will provide them with complete security from our side so that they can maintain their privacy.”
Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Bhiwadi, Sujeet Shankar told HT, “The police on Sunday went to check her background after receiving some information from the media. Anju, in a video call with her husband on Friday, said she went to Pakistan with a valid passport. However, we couldn’t verify the validity of her visa with the ministry of external affairs as no formal complaint has been lodged yet.”
Police in India and Pakistan said neither government has directed them to launch any probe into the incident yet.
Shankar added: “They are the adults. They can visit any country. However, we will investigate the matter if her family makes any complaint.”
