Attari (Punjab): He met a woman on social media, fell in love and crossed the border from Pakistan to India to marry her. They had a child, but there’s no happily ever after — the man is being deported.
The story of 31-year-old Akbar Durani, which resembles a Bollywood drama, is a tragic tale spanning more than five years.
Durani, who is from Okhri in the Hyderabad province of Pakistan, was taken by authorities from Madhya Pradesh to Attari in order to be deported after staying on in the country after his visa lapsed.
Struggling to hold back tears, Durani narrates his story, which began in 2011 when he started talking to Sofia, of Dewas in Madhya Pradesh, via Facebook and Skype.
“My attraction for Sofia compelled me to come to India. I, along with my mother, obtained a visa and went to Dewas. I met Sofia’s parents who immediately agreed to my marriage proposal with a condition that I will settle down in India after marriage,” he said.
“Our marriage was solemnised in the year 2013 at Dewas and after a year we were blessed with a boy,” he said.
Durani, who has Master’s degree in Economics, took up a teaching job to earn a living. However, he says, since he was in India on a tourist visa, he approached the FRRO for a long-term visa. He was asked to submit the application.
“I approached the FRRO office for long-term visa two months before the expiry of my visa duration, citing my marriage with the Indian girl. But it was all in vain,” the Pakistani national said.
“On the day the duration of my visa ended, I visited the FRRO office to inquire about my visa status. There I was arrested on the charge of overstay in India and was sent to prison,” he said.
In August 2015, a court sentenced him to one year in prison for overstaying.
“On August 8, 2016, I was released from the prison and was lodged in a police station for want of travel documents to be issued by Pakistan High Commission. It took over six months as my antecedents were confirmed by the Pakistan High Commission,” Durani said.
“The sad part of my love story is that my wife and kid are not allowed to travel with me to Pakistan. It would be tough for my wife and son to stay in India in my absence. They are in Amritsar to bid me good bye. The worst part is that I may not get visa again to visit India as visa norms were violated on my part,” he said.
He is also not sure whether his wife and two-year-old son, Ariz, would be issued visa by the Pakistani High Commission to visit him in Pakistan.
“I never thought that I would be forced to separate from my family after settling down in India. It is the tsunami in my life,” he said.
