Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Two girls from Mumbai and Uttaranchal fall in love with two brothers in Pakistan over the Internet. They exchange wedding vows online and decide to meet. The girls take the Poonch route to cross the Line of Control. Across the borders, their lovers wait for them, as they have for three years now.
The story took some telling as border security personnel were unsure why two girls have left their homes, checked into a hotel here and then ventured to cross the border near Chakkan Da Bagh without papers. But Asha Patel of Thane and Ayesha Sharma of Haldwani were unfazed. The police didn’t book a case and after much convincing, let the lovers meet, if only for a few minutes.
The love story goes back three years when the girls began chatting with the brothers — Mumtaz Khalid, a foreign exchange trader, and sub-inspector Mohammad Javed Yaseen — in Lahore, over the Net. Poonch SSP SD Singh Jamwal, who was witness to the reunion today, said the four had become family over the past three years and tried several times to meet each others. Both brothers and their lovers were denied visas when they planned visits so the four met at Wagah on April 29. The boys then told them of the Poonch route which several divided families take to reunions.
The girls set out, telling their families they were on a pilgrimage to Vaishno Devi. They checked into a hotel and took a three-wheeler to get across when they were caught. Their future plans — to get into Pakistan via Dubai or some other country at the earliest.
