Peshawar: In yet another cross-border love story, a Chinese woman has travelled to Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province to marry the man whom she befriended and fell in love with on social media, police said on Thursday.
The woman, identified as Gao Feng, arrived in Islamabad last week by road from China via Gilgit on a three-month visit visa. The 21-year-old was picked up by her 18-year-old friend Javed, a resident of Bajaur tribal district bordering Afghanistan, they said.
Javed took the woman to his maternal uncle’s home in Samarbagh tehsil of Lower Dir District instead of his hometown due to the security situation in Bajaur District bordering Afghanistan.
According to police, both were in contact through Snapchat for the last three years and the friendship developed into a love affair.
Gao married Javed on Wednesday after converting to Islam and her new name is Kiswa, the man’s maternal cousin Izzatullah Khan told PTI over the phone.
Izzatullah said Gao arrived in Islamabad on July 20 where he and Javed received her. From there they came to Lower Dir District on July 21 where Gao stayed at Izzatullah’s residence in Samarbagh.
Javed and Gao performed nikkah on Wednesday and then left for Islamabad after the local police and district administration convinced them that her stay in the district was not safe due to security reasons and the Holy Month of Ramadan, Izzatullah said.
Izzatullah further said that Javed is pursuing a Computer Science course at Bajaur Degree College and will do a court marriage with Gao in China.
Police have also confirmed these details.
While Gao will return to China in a few days, Javed will stay back in Pakistan, Izzatullah said.
Javed will go to China after completing his education in Pakistan which will take almost a year, he added.
Earlier, during Gao’s stay in Samarbagh, the District Police Officer of Lower Dir District Ziauddin told the media that she was provided full security. However, she is not being provided free movement due to Muharram and security concerns in the area.
The travel documents of the Chinese woman are in order, police said.
The news of the Chinese girl travelling to Pakistan for the pursuit of love came at a time when in a similar incident, a 34-year-old married Indian woman Anju from Rajasthan travelled to the Upper Dir district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to meet her 29-year-old Pakistani friend Nasrulla whom she she met on Facebook. Anju later married Nasrulla after converting to Islam and now has a new name, Fatima.
In another similar incident, Seema Ghulam Haider, a 30-year-old Pakistani mother of four, sneaked into India to live with Sachin Meena, a 22-year-old Hindu man she got in touch with while playing PUBG in 2019.
Seema and Sachin live in the Rabupura area of Greater Noida, near Delhi, where he runs a provision store, according to Uttar Pradesh Police.
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