MUZAFFARABAD: The distance between the homes of a recently married couple is hardly 30 kilometres but Mohammad Irfan from Indian-held Kashmir (IHK) had to travel over 1,100 kilometres and enter Pakistan from the Wagah-Attari border to marry Esma Bashir of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK).

The wedding between the cross-border couple took place in a marriage hall in Muzaffarabad on Sunday afternoon. Guests, mostly relatives, wished the couple a happy married life as well as safe future travels across the divide vulnerable to traditional ups and downs between Pakistan and India.

The bride and groom are cousins. The 25-year-old groom runs a business in Salamabad, Uri in IHK and is also pursuing postgraduate studies. The bride is 24 and she was born and raised in Chinari, a town located 50 kilometres away from Muzaffarabad and some 10 kilometres from the Line of Control (LoC).

Esma’s parents were able to travel to IHK in 2007 and 2008 after the launch of the Muzaffarabad-Srinagar bus service. In 2011, Esma and her siblings also visited IHK by bus. They spent six weeks with their paternal and maternal relatives across the dividing line.

In 2014, the families decided to arrange a marriage between Esma and Irfan. While Irfan and his parents were able to obtain trans-LoC travel permits, they were forced to take a long route to Muzaffarabad through the Wagah-Attari border because of legal requirements.

In Chinari, the couple’s nikah was solemnised on Friday and the rukhsati took place on Sunday.  

“I am very happy that our marriage will cement the ties between our families,” said the groom, dressed in a white silk sherwani and turban.

Esma was equally ecstatic. “I was in love with the place where my parents had their roots. I am now fortunate to be going there as a bride,” she said.

Irfan and his parents will return to India, via Wagah-Attari border, next week, along with the bride whose visa they had already obtained from the Indian government.

Irfan maintained that India and Pakistan had consistently shown remarkable commitment towards confidence building measures on Kashmir, regardless of tensions on other issues.

“We are hopeful that cross-border couples will be facilitated by both countries under the same spirit,” he said.

He said Islamabad and New Delhi should facilitate wedding parties in travelling across the LoC.

This is the third trans-LoC marriage in the last five years in which one or both partners hailed from Uri or Chinari. In each case, wedding parties had to travel across the international border.

In October 2013, Yasir Shafi, son of Mohammad Shafi Uri, a National Conference MLA from Uri and a former member of the Indian Parliament, married Dr Sarah Saif, daughter of Dr Khawaja Saif Din, in Muzaffarabad.

In 2010, Ajaz Ahmed Meer of Chinari had married his cousin Kousar Parveen, whose parents are from Uri and settled in Srinagar in the 1960s. While Kousar travelled to Srinagar thrice, through the Wagah-Attari border, Meer has never made it to Pakistan despite applying for the trans-LoC permit four times.

Published in Dawn April 7th, 2015

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