E-friends marry

Published July 12, 2003

TOBA TEK SINGH, July 11: An American woman wedded a young Pakistani Christian here after getting to know him through the internet over the past few months.

Boota Masih, son of local minority councillor Chaudhry Gulshan Masih, proposed to Sandra of New York, who readily accepted the proposal.

On his invitation, Sandra, aged 38, arrived here last week and married him at the Christian Colony in the presence of hundreds of Boota’s rejoicing relatives and friends.

A provincial minister and parliamentarians of the area also attended the function.

Talking to this correspondent, Sandra said she had been divorced by her first husband. “Seeing Boota on the internet for the first time, I thought I had found my life partner,” said the delighted foreigner.

She also said: “I found out here that whatever my husband had told me about his status and way of living was true. I am glad to have found a truthful companion.”

The wedding customs and hospitality of people here have impressed me, she added.

Sandra, a computer graphic-designer, said she would soon sponsor an American visa for her husband, who was an MBA. “We shall find our career in the US,” she said.

She said she had a 15-year-old son Chris from her former marriage, who was also very happy over her second marriage.

Boota, who looked happy, hoped that he and his wife would become a good couple.