Click to play videoRajouri/Poonch, J&L: In the border areas of Jammu and Kashmir, cross-border travels are forging matrimonial ties.
Sayed Mohammad traveled to the Indian side of the LoC from Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir, to revive old ties and forge new ones.
Mohammad, who had crossed over to POK in 1965, returned via the Poonch-Rawalkote route with his two daughters, this time to find grooms for them.
“My family lives in India and I have come back to revive these ties again,” said Mohammad, who has now got his daughters engaged to his nephews.
He, along with many other families, has expressed the hope that both the Indian and Pakistani governments will do more to make things easier for "cross-border couples".
His daughters’ weddings have been put on hold as they will have to return on an international visa for the ceremonies.
Poonch resident Aarif Hussain, who is also one of the grooms, said, "We are set to get married. The wedding preparations are on, but they have to return on international visa and then we will have the weddings.
Hussain also feels that rules should be relaxed.
“We should be given permits to travel frequently so we could meet,” he said.
Another couple, Sajjad Ahmad and Shabnam Kousar, too, forged ties across borders but even their case was plagued with hiccups. Though they married in 2005 when Sajjad travelled to Pakistan, it took them close to two years for Shabnam to finally get a visa to travel to India and even now, she is awaiting her Indian citizenship.
“She has to extend her visa after every six months. She has married me, she should be given the citizenship here,” Ahmad said.
The border district of Rajouri and Poonch have the maximum chunk of divided families – those separated during the Partition and the 1965 war. Though bonds between both sides have always existed, the ties are getting stronger day by day.
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