Anju’s father reportedly said that she was as good as dead after learning about the 35-year-old Indian woman’s marriage to a Pakistani man while on a trip to the northern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region of Upper Dir.
In a surprising turn of events, the mother of two from Kailor in India’s Uttar Pradesh lawfully entered Pakistan on July 22 and married 29-year-old Nasrullah, whom she had been friends with on Facebook in 2019.
Reports of cross-border unions, like those of Seema Haider, a Pakistani woman, and Sachin, an Indian man, made headlines in both of the countries’ bitter rivalries and even startled some people.
One of them was Anju’s father, who adopted Islam for her nikah with Nasrullah and now goes by the name Fatima.
As he spoke to the reporters at Bouna village in the Gwalior area of Madhya Pradesh, the father, Gaya Prasad Thomas, voiced his deep regret over Anju’s marriage and claimed that she had wrecked the future of her children.
“The way she ran away leaving her two children and husband behind, she did not even think of her children. If she wanted to do this, she should have divorced her husband first. She is no more (alive) for us,” he said.
It may be noted that according to Anju’s statement, she is a divorcee and no longer lives with her husband.
When asked about Anju’s conversion to Islam, he denied having any knowledge about it.
“What will happen to her children, her husband? Who will take care of her children (a 13-year-old girl and a five-year-old boy)? We will have to do it,” Thomas said.
He said he will not do “any such thing” when asked if he plans to appeal to the Indian government to bring Anju back.
“I pray…to let her die there [Pakistan]. I don’t know how she got the passport when she got the visa,” he added.
Earlier, Thomas had also described his daughter as “mentally disturbed and eccentric”.
On Tuesday, Anju and Nasrullah tied the knot in a local court of a district and sessions judge in KP.
The couple’s nikkah was verified by Malakand Division Deputy Inspector General Nasir Mehmood Satti, and they were then moved from the court to their residence under police protection.
Police confirmed that Anju entered Pakistan legally on July 22 through the Wagah border and has a valid visa to stay for up to a month; however, if she wishes to prolong her stay, she must contact the Home Ministry.
In a video statement that appeared before her marriage, Anju said that she “feels safe here” in Pakistan.