KARACHI: The Pakistani woman who sneaked into India to live with a Hindu man whom she befriended and fell in love through a gaming platform, will not be allowed to return to her own country, her family said.
Seema Ghulam Haider, a mother of four, has been ostracised by her family and neighbours in Pakistan for defying societal norms and marrying a Hindu man in India.
Seema and Sachin Meena became acquainted while playing PUBG in 2019 and a dramatic love story developed between the two living more than 1,300 kms apart, in countries that are not too friendly to each other.
30-year-old Seema and 22-year-old Sachin now live in the Rabupura area of Greater Noida, near Delhi. Sachin runs a provision store in the area, according to Uttar Pradesh Police.
Pakistan national Seema was arrested on July 4 as she had illegally entered India without a visa via Nepal with her four children, all aged below seven years, while Sachin was arrested for sheltering the illegal immigrants.
They were, however, released from jail recently after they professed their love for each other and wished to live together as a couple.
However, the good news turned to bad when word came from across the border that Seema's neighbours and a relative didn't want her back in Pakistan.
The landlord in whose rented home Seema stayed in Pakistan said she should send her children back to Pakistan while she can stay in India as, “she is no longer even a Muslim.”
Seema stayed in his house with her children for the last three years before she decided to illegally enter India to be with her Hindu lover.
Everyone in her neighbourhood is fascinated by the story of how this largely uneducated mother of four and the wife of a husband working abroad could have the courage in Pakistan’s largely conservative society to abandon everything and enter India illegally to be with a much younger man.
Seema hails from the neighbourhood of Bhittaiabad, Katchi Abadi in the heart of Gulistan-e-Jauhar. Her home is a three-room portion of a building bereft of any paint and located in a narrow lane full of garbage.
Her husband, Ghulam Haider, who works in Saudi Arabia, was said to have bought her the house for Rs 1.2 million, which people say is completely untrue.
Nur Muhammad, the landlord’s son, clarified that she was a tenant with them for three years with her children. She lived alone with her children while her father-in-law lived some distance away.
Seema had eloped with Ghulam Haider to Karachi 10 years back and got married against the wishes of their parents.
Jamal Jakhrani, an elderly man, who was her neighbour said they saw her call a taxi and leave one day with her children, carrying some bags. They thought she was going to her village in Jacobabad. But they got the shock of their lives when they heard about her escapade on TV channels after nearly a month.
Jamal belongs to the same tribe that Seema and Ghulam Haider belong to and believes it is best Seema should remain in India now.
"If ever she thinks of coming back, she will not be forgiven by the tribe and secondly, her decision to stay with a Hindu has angered everyone now,” Jamal said.
The police in Pakistan are also baffled by the case. SSP Kashmore-Kandhkot, Irfan Samoo, is puzzled by the whole affair and has found anomalies in Seema’s documents and tale. Her husband is also said to have given varying accounts to the police. The mystery is yet to be cleared up and the story continues to evolve.
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