Jaipur:
Shaitan Singh of Rajasthan got engaged to Saffron Kanwar from Sindh province of Pakistan four years ago. As the groom’s family struggled for years to get a visa, the marriage from across the border collided with another obstacle when the government closed the Etiri border on Thursday.
With his wedding dress being prepared and to tie a knot in Amarkot city of Pakistan on April 30, Singh on Tuesday with his family and ‘Baraut’ from Bermer district for the attic border, Singh with Singh.
But by the time they reached there, the authorities refused to cross the border as India on Wednesday ordered an immediate bandh to the Attari-Waga border, which was as part of a series of counter-retaliation after the tragic Pahgam terror attack.
Singh said, “We have waited a long time for this day,” saying that after years of efforts it was recently, on 18 February, that he, his father and brother were given visas.
The groom’s cousin Surendra Singh said that the situation has disappointed both families.
He said, “Our relatives of Pakistan came here, but they had to return. We are very disappointed. Terrorist attacks cause a lot of damage. Relations are spoiled. The movement on the border stops,” he said.
As marriage is interrupted from across the border. Singh, a resident of Indoi village in Bermer district, is valid till May 12, due to which the families hope that the marriage can still happen if the border opens again on time.
The groom said, “Whatever the terrorists did was wrong. The marriage has been interrupted. What to do? It is a matter of limits.”
The cross-limit marriage was arranged through family relations, a common practice among the Soda Rajput community, which has an important population in Sindh province of Pakistan.
Many of them prefer to marry within the community, and often look for matches on the border to preserve their cultural traditions.
Singh, who works in the finance sector, is one of the fields with relatives in Pakistan. For now, his family waits in the hope that the situation will improve and the border will reopen on time to move forward.
India on Wednesday reduced diplomatic relations with Pakistan after the April 22 terrorist attack in Pahgam in Jammu and Kashmir, with 26 people, most of which were closed.
On the security meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a cabinet committee took a series of retaliation, including suspending the Indus Water Treaty of 1960, canceling visa services of Pakistani citizens and immediate closure of the attic land-transit post.
(Except for the headline, the story has not been edited by NDTV employees and is published by a syndicated feed.)
