With the foot-tapping beats of dhols (Indian drums) and garlands, a Pakistani woman, Javeria Khanum, from Karachi, was greeted with an extravagant welcome at the Wagah-Attari border in Punjab as she arrived in India to marry her fiancé, Sameer Khan, in January next year.
“Just on arrival, I am already getting so much love here. In the first week of January, the marriage will be solemnised,” Khanum told an Indian news agency.
For Khan, it was love at first sight when he saw Khanum's photo on her mother's phone in 2018 and expressed his interest in marrying her.
The couple hit a roadblock as Covid-19 pandemic stalled their marriage plans and Khanum's visa was rejected twice earlier.
It was an uphill journey for the cross-border couple, who had to wait for five years to get a visa.
When Khanum was finally granted a 45-day visa to visit India, she expressed gratitude to the Indian government and said that this could not have been possible without the intervention of journalist and social worker Maqbool Ahmed Wasi Qadian who has helped many Pakistani brides to get visas.
After getting married in January next year, Khanum will be applying for a long-term visa.
While Khan emphasised that when intentions are sincere, borders do not matter, Khanum expressed that it is a happy ending and a happy beginning.
In the recent past, another Pakistani national, identified as Seema Haider, made headlines for crossing the Indian border via Nepal to marry a Noida-based man Sachin Meena.