In another cross-border story, a married Indian woman crossed Pakistan to meet her friend who she met on Facebook and allegedly fell in love with.
Anju, 34, born in Uttar Pradesh, but living in Rajasthan’s Alwar travelled to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on the invitation of her 29-year-old friend Nasrulla.
She is currently in the Upper Dir district in Pakistan’s KPK, and is under the scanner of authorities for entering the country, sources told News18.
This comes at the helm of Pakistani citizen Seema Haider crossing the border to enter India, after she met an Indian man on an online game.
However unlike Haider, Anju has entered Pakistan legally through the Wagah border, sources added.
#BreakingNews | Rajasthani girl travels to Pakistan to meet a Pakistani man Amid Seema Haider story
News18’s Shailendra Wangu with more details with @JamwalNews18 #SeemaHaider #Anju #IndiaPakistan pic.twitter.com/UbY4Sj0NnR
— News18 (@CNNnews18) July 23, 2023
Anju was initially under Pakistan police custody but was released after her travel documents were verified by the district police.
Anju’s friend Nasrulla works in the medical field and the two started talking online a few months back.
She is visiting the Islamic country for a month, and has not gone there to marry his friend.
An officer at Dir police station said Anju and her friend were released after her documents were cleared by senior police officer Mushtaq Khab and Scouts Major.
On the Indian side, a team of Rajasthan police reached her house in Bhiwadi to enquire about her after media reports.
According to her husband, Anju left home on Thursday saying that she is going to Jaipur, but later the family got to know that she was in Pakistan.
“Anju’s husband said that she left home on Thursday. She had a valid passport,” Assistant Superintendent of Police Bhiwadi Sujit Shankar told news agency PTI.
The couple together have two children, a 15-year-old girl and a six-year-old son. There has been no complaint registered from her family as of now.
According to her husband, he did not know that she was talking to anyone online.
THE STORY OF SEEMA HAIDER
There are similarities between the stories of Anju and Seema Ghulam Haider, a Pakistani mother of four, who sneaked into India to live with Sachin Meena, a Hindu man she got in touch with while playing PUBG in 2019.
Haider remained in headlines as she faces investigation by security agencies over spy allegations and her renewed efforts to stay in India.
She is currently out of detention after the ATS investigation and maintains that she is not a spy and wants to remain in India.