150 Pakistani Sindhi brides reach India for long-delayed weddings
Around 150 Pakistani Sindhi women and their relatives have reached India through third-country air routes to marry their Indian partners, after visa restrictions and the closure of the Wagah-Attari route left their wedding plans in limbo.
According to a report by India Today, the women had been engaged to men in India but were unable to travel after India tightened visa restrictions following Operation Sindoor and the closure of the Attari route.
They were subsequently granted visas but had to enter India by air rather than through the land border.
The brides and their relatives travelled through countries including Dubai, Muscat, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh before arriving in India. Today reported, citing Sindhi community leader Rajesh Jhambia.
“The long wait is over, finally,” Jhambia was quoted as saying.
NDTV said the families had traditionally used the Wagah-Attari crossing to travel between Pakistan's Sindh province and India for marriages.
The closure of the route disrupted a number of such weddings and left the families searching for alternative ways to reunite.
According to NDTV, community representatives worked with Shadaani Darbar, a Sindhi religious institution, to compile details of women whose marriages to Indian men had been stalled.
The list was subsequently submitted to India's Ministry of Home Affairs, seeking visa facilitation for the brides and their relatives.
The arrangement has now allowed the first group of around 150 women and their families to make the journey by air through third countries.
The move, however, has not resolved the situation for everyone.
India Today reported that nearly 300 more Pakistani women are still waiting for visas to travel to India for their weddings.
For the couples who have already made the journey, the unusual route has nevertheless offered a way to proceed with marriages delayed by the deterioration in India-Pakistan travel ties.
Support Our Journalism
We cannot do without you.. your contribution supports unbiased journalism
IBNS is not driven by any ism- not wokeism, not racism, not skewed secularism, not hyper right-wing or left liberal ideals, nor by any hardline religious beliefs or hyper nationalism. We want to serve you good old objective news, as they are. We do not judge or preach. We let people decide for themselves. We only try to present factual and well-sourced news.
Support objective journalism for a small contribution.
