Love Knows No Borders: How Pakistani woman crossed into India to marry Kolkata man

After Seema Haider, yet another Pakistani woman, Jawaria Khanam, crossed the Attari-Wagah Border in Amritsar on Tuesday to marry a Kolkata resident, Sameer Khan. The couple plans to wed in early 2024. 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 the marriage will be solemnised in January next year. “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. Earlier, the visa was rejected twice and in between there was the COVID pandemic, Khan said, adding that he was thankful to the Indian Government for the visa. “My mother is very happy now that we will be getting married in January next year,” he said. Khan said his friends from his time in Germany — from Africa, Spain, the United States and other countries — are likely to attend his wedding. The couple then left to catch a flight from Amritsar to Kolkata. **Also read: What happens when Indians and Pakistanis fall in love? Seema Haider and other stories of cross-border ‘pyaar’** When love triumphed borders This isn’t the first high-profile cross-border union between India and Pakistan. Earlier this year, Seema Haider, a Pakistani woman, had crossed over to India to marry Sachin Meena, whom she met through an online game and eventually fell for. However, Seema did this illegally, travelling through Nepal to reach Noida from Pakistan’s Karachi with her four children. Following her arrival, the central intelligence agencies were alerted and Haider was arrested on 4 July for illegally entering India without a visa. She was later put behind bars for sheltering illegal immigrants. Similarly, Anju, now Fatima, travelled to Pakistan to marry Nasrullah, a Facebook friend. When she returned to India via the Wagah Border, she was questioned before being escorted to the Amritsar airport. With inputs from PTI