After waiting for more than a year to meet her partner living in India, Pakistani national Suman Rantilal has appealed to the Modi government to grant her special permission to enter India on compassionate grounds so that she could marry her long time Indian boyfriend and start her married life in India, reports Times of India.
According to the reports, Suman, a teacher by profession, has been waiting for over a year and a half to marry her boyfriend Amit Sharma from Gurdaspur, Punjab, who she found on Facebook. Suman Rantilal, who lives in Karachi, has not met Amit ever since the couple met on Facebook in September 2019.
Suman said she has submitted all the required travel documents with the Indian high commission in Pakistan, however, her visa has been denied on the grounds of Covid-19 as both countries had banned cross-border travel. “I am waiting to travel to India and marry Amit,” said Suman speaking to TOI from Karachi on Friday.
Suman met Amit Sharma on Facebook in 2019 and fell in love, and decided to get married. As passenger traffic between the two nations has been temporarily suspended since March 2020 to prevent the spread of the virus, Suman could not get a visa to travel to India.
Speaking to Mint, Amit Sharma had narrated his love story, saying that he first found Suman on Facebook in September 2019 while checking out photos of Janmashtami celebrations in Karachi. Sharma, who works as a sales manager at a rooftop sheet manufacturer, said he sent a message to Suman.
After a few days, Suman replied to Amit, who then exchanged their phone numbers after hours of chatting on Facebook. Apparently, two months later, in November, Amit proposed to Suman. The couple then decided to tie the knot, however, they are finding it tough to get a visa to travel across the border.
It is not just Suman, many others from both countries are waiting for their respective governments to lift the travel ban. Fufoora, a Pakistan national married to a man from Qadian in the Gurdaspur district, has been stuck on the other side of the border since the travel ban was enforced and hoping to rejoin her husband as soon as possible.
