A married Indian woman who travelled legally to a remote village in Pakistan to meet her Facebook friend will return to India on August 20 when her visa expires, her Pakistani friend said on Monday, dismissing reports of any 'love' angle.
Nasrulla, 29, said that he has no plan of marrying 34-year-old Anju, who was born in Kailor village in Uttar Pradesh and lived in the Alwar district of Rajasthan. Nasrulla and Anju became friends on Facebook in 2019.
"Anju is on a visit to Pakistan and we have no plan to marry," Nasrulla told PTI over the phone from village Kulsho in the district, some 300 km from Peshawar.
"She will go back to her country on August 20 after her visa expires," he said, adding that "Anju is living in a separate room of my home with the other female members of my family," he said.
Anju had travelled to the Upper Dir district of Pakistan's tribal Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on a valid Pakistani visa to meet Nasrulla.
According to an official document of the Ministry of Interior sent to Pakistan’s High Commission in New Delhi, the chancery was informed that it had been decided to grant a 30-day visa to Anju, valid for Upper Dir only.
Nasrullah, a science graduate from a University in Sheringal, is the youngest among five brothers.
He has given an affidavit to local authorities, stating that there is no love angle to their friendship, and Anju will return to India on August 20.
The affidavit also states that she will not move out of the Upper Dir district.
"She will definitely go back on August 20 as per her visa documents," said police officer Mushtaq.
District Police Officer Mushtaq interviewed Anju in his office on Sunday and checked her travel documents on the basis of which a no-objection certificate was issued to her.
Nasrullah said they have been provided adequate security by the district administration and Anju is safe and sound with his family.
The villagers, mostly Pashtuns who are very religious people, want Anju to return safely to India as they do not want any bad name for their community due to this incident.
Anju's husband Arvind, who is in Rajasthan, is hopeful that his wife will return soon.
They have a 15-year-old daughter and a six-year-old son.
Anju's incident is similar to Seema Ghulam Haider's case. Seema, a Pakistani mother of four, sneaked into India to live with Sachin Meena, a Hindu man she got in touch with while playing PUBG in 2019.
Seema, 30, and Sachin, 22, live in the Rabupura area of Greater Noida, near Delhi, where he runs a provision store, according to Uttar Pradesh Police.
While Seema was arrested on July 4 for illegally entering India without a visa via Nepal with her four children, all aged below seven years, Sachin was put behind bars for sheltering the illegal immigrants.
However, unlike Seema who entered India without a visa via Nepal with her four children all aged below seven years, Anju has travelled to Pakistan legally from India via the Wagah-Attari border.
Anju's husband Arvind told the media in Bhiwadi, Rajasthan that she left home on Thursday on the pretext of going to Jaipur but later the family came to know that she was in Pakistan.
“Anju's husband said that she left home on Thursday. She has a valid passport,” Assistant Superintendent of Police Bhiwadi Sujit Shankar told PTI.
He said that the family did not lodge a complaint after they came to know about Anju's travel to Pakistan.
Arvind told the media at his home that his wife Anju told her sister that she was in Lahore and later he spoke to her on a WhatsApp call.
He said he would talk to her and will ask her to return, asserting that he was hopeful that she would return home.
He said her passport was issued in 2020 as she wanted to apply for a job abroad. Arvind said he had no idea that she was in touch with anyone on social media.