Bangladeshi man tries to cross over to marry Pak girl; held at Attari

GS Paul

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, May 6

Love knows no boundaries. Despite restrained movement amid the lockdown due to Covid-19 pandemic, a Bangladeshi national dared to infiltrate into India, covered 2,000km from Kolkata to Amritsar and tried to cross the India-Pakistan border to marry his ‘social media friend’ from Karachi before being held by the Border Security Force (BSF) personnel.

Nayan Mian alias Abdullah, 26, is a resident of Shariatpur district in the Dhaka division of central Bangladesh. He was arrested after being spotted at the border under suspicious circumstances.

A senior BSF official said nothing suspicious was found in his possession, except a mobile phone with Bangladeshi SIM and some Indian currency.

About his decision to take the risk of crossing the border without valid travel documents, Abdullah told the officials that else the girl’s family would marry her to someone else in Pakistan.

During questioning, he revealed that the girls’ family shared ties with his family but got separated after his family shifted to Bangladesh, post-1971 partition.

A few years back, they got connected through social media and started liking each other.

“On May 31, we found him loitering near the Attari-Wagah border. He could not cross due to dense fencing on the border. He was searching for some weak borderline like a riverine. Same way, through a riverine in south Bengal borderline, he had entered India and reached Kolkata. From there, he walked on foot and took a lift midway to reach New Delhi. Same way, he managed to reach Ludhiana, and from there he reached Amritsar and walked down to Attari,” revealed a BSF officer.

The BSF has now handed him over to the Gharinda Police for further investigation.

SHO Gagandeep Singh said Abdullah had been booked under the Foreigners Act and investigation was on. “We have brought the matter into the notice of the department concerned and are trying to contact his family members in Bangladesh,” said the SHO.

Abdullah, meanwhile, admitted that he sneaked into India through Kolkata and he wanted to cross over to Pakistan to meet the girl.

“She is actually my cousin living in Karachi,” Abdullah revealed during the investigation. “We were connected through social media.”

“We used to be in touch on video call, but for the past 10-15 days I was not able to reach her. She had accepted my proposal for marriage and that’s why I intend to go to her place,” said Abdullah.

“I had heard that many Pakistani people who were stranded in India were being repatriated these days, so I thought of taking a chance,” he added.  

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