KASUR: The family of a young man arrested by the Indian Border Security Force (BSF) has rejected media claims across the border that the 32-year-old had been ‘unlucky in love’ and had walked up to the Indian border ‘to get shot’.

Muhammad Asif, who was arrested by the BSF near the Mabboke village post in India on May 28, hails from the border village of Jalloke, located some 50 kilometres from Kasur.

Asif’s house is a bare five-minute walk from the fence separating the two countries.

According to Khalil Ahmad, Asif's father, his son had first displayed symptoms of mental illness some two years ago. Around six months ago, his condition had worsened and Ahmad had to take him to the Lahore General Hospital for treatment.

Since then, Asif was being treated for mental illness, his father said.

He said that on May 28, Asif arose at Sehar time [before dawn] as he was scheduled to visit a doctor in Lahore that day. It was going to be a long journey which required them to row across the river and change multiple buses in order to reach their destination.

Instead, Asif went out of the house and disappeared. His family initially thought he had gone out to relieve himself, but he never returned.

Ahmed said the family searched for him for hours. They later learnt from the Rangers that the BSF had arrested Asif at a point two kilometres from their house.

They believed that Asif might have walked up to the BSF post, who promptly took him into custody.

The mentally unstable man, however, was described in India media as being “heartbroken over not being able to marry his lover”. The Pakistani man walked up to the Indian border hoping a BSF bullet would kill him, it was reported across the fence.

According to one newspaper, Asif was nabbed by the 118 Battalion of the BSF and handed over to Mamdot police in India. The report said Asif had for long been in love with a relative, but the idea of a marriage was disapproved of by the two families and the woman married someone else.

Later, when the woman he had wished to marry divorced, Asif had again expressed his desire to marry her. He was disappointed once again, it said.

The Hindustan Times wrote that "Asif told the BSF that he walked to the Indian border hoping that a bullet from the BSF would pierce his heart and end his trauma".

The Indian newspaper also quoted Asif as saying that he had thought about hanging himself, but changed his mind "because of Ramazan".

Asif’s brother, Muhammad Sabir, told Dawn that Asif was not 'mad in love', but someone who had lost his sensibilities owing to a sickness. He rejected the love story, saying the family had no knowledge of any such 'affair'.

He said the family had presented prescriptions of his treatment to the Pakistani authorities as evidence of his condition. The authorities were cooperating with them, he said.

The Hindustan Times reported that Asif has been booked by Mamdot police under the Indian Passport Act and the Foreigners Act.

The villagers of Jalloke and Asif's family have demanded that the chief justice and the army chief look into the matter.

Published in Dawn, June 5th, 2018

This story has been edited for clarity.