By – Shubhendra Singh Rajawat
Anju left her house on Thursday on the pretense that she was travelling to Amritsar, but later her family learned that she was actually in the Pakistani city of Lahore.
Last week, a 34-year-old married woman from Rajasthan’s Bhiwadi city crossed the border to see a Facebook friend from Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
This latest incidence of a developing cross-border connection occurs just weeks after Seema Haider, a Pakistani national, was detained by the Uttar Pradesh Anti Terror Squad (also known as after she entered India to meet Sachin Meena, an Indian resident living in Noida. Meena and his father were detained for giving them sanctuary while Haider and her four children were detained for entering India illegally.
When police inquired about Anju’s location on Sunday after media reports on the incident were released, they went to her home in Bhiwadi, in Rajasthan’s Alwar district.
Anju left her home on Thursday under the pretense of traveling to Amritsar, but later the family learned she was actually in the Pakistani city of Lahore, according to her husband Arvind Kumar, who reported the incident to the police.
In the most recent instance, Anju said that she had traveled to Pakistan to meet her friend Nasarullah and that she would return to Bhiwadi in a few days, according to her husband.
Anju, a worker at a private company in Bhiwadi, and Arvind have been married for 16 years and have two children together.
According to reports, she first connected with Nasarullah on Facebook four years ago. After falling in love, they decided to meet in Pakistan.
Anju had her passport made two years ago,” Arvind remarked. Despite never having traveled abroad, she is required to frequently travel for work. But she omitted to inform me of her travel plans to Pakistan. She did, however, promise to return in three to four days. I don’t want to contact the police right away with any complaints.
In between, Nasarullah stated, “We intend to get engaged in a few days after which Anju will return to India to meet her family,” in an interview with a Pakistani television network. When we next meet in Pakistan, we’ll get married. For the past two years, we made repeated attempts to obtain Anju’s visa. Finally, she received authorization to enter Pakistan through the Wagha border. We prefer to remain discreet and out of the public eye.
The SHO of Khyaber Pakhtunkhwa’s Upper Dir police station, Javed Khan, confirmed the validity of Anju’s visa by saying, “The two attended the police station on July 21 as per the protocol for a foreign national’s visit. The woman has a 30-day visa that is still valid. No issue with illegal immigration was discovered by us. In order to protect their privacy, we shall offer them total protection from our end.
According to Sujeet Shankar, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Bhiwadi, “The police went to examine her background on Sunday after receiving some information from the media. Anju claimed she traveled to Pakistan with a legal passport during a video conference with her husband on Friday. As no formal complaint has yet been made, we were unable to check the validity of her visa with the minister of external affairs.
According to police in India and Pakistan, neither government has yet given them the go-ahead to begin an investigation into the incident.
They are the adults, Shankar continued. They are free to travel wherever. However, if her family complains, we will look into the situation.