'Dead to us': Father appalled by Indian Anju's 'marriage' to Pakistani man

Appalled by the marriage of Anju, a 35-year-old Indian woman, with a Pakistani man during a visit to the northern district of Upper Dir in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, her father said that she was good as dead to them, Hindustan Times reported.

The mother of two from Kailor in India's Uttar Pradesh legally travelled to Pakistan on July 22 and married 29-year-old Nasrullah, who she befriended on Facebook in 2019, in a shocking turn of events.

The reports of the cross-border marriage, the like of Pakistan's Seema Haider to Indian man Sachin, made headlines across the two rival countries and even shocked many.

One of them was the father of Anju — who now goes by the name of Fatima after embracing Islam for nikah with Nasrullah.

The father, Gaya Prasad Thomas, expressed great dismay over Anju's marriage, saying she had ruined the future of her children, as he talked to the reporters at Bouna village in Gwalior district of Madhya Pradesh.

“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 (13-year-old girl and 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.

Malakand Division Deputy Inspector General Nasir Mehmood Satti confirmed the couple's nikkah, after which they were shifted to their home from the court under police security.

Police confirmed that Anju arrived in Pakistan via Wagah border on July 22, legally and had a valid visa to stay here for up to a month, but she’ll have to request the Home Ministry in case she wants to extend her visit.

Anju said, in a video statement that surfaced before her marriage, she "feels safe here" in Pakistan.