A Bangladeshi national walked up to 2,000 km amid the COVID-19 lockdown in the hope to see his social media friend in Karachi. He first crossed the India-Bangladesh border illegally and found his way to Attari, Amritsar.
Trying to cross the India-Pakistan border, he was arrested by a senior BSF officer.
“On May 31, we found him loitering near the Attari-Wagah border. As he could not cross it because of the fencing, he was searching for a gap,” said the officer.
Identified as Nayan Mian, the 26-year-old is a resident of Shariatpur, a district in the Dhaka division of central Bangladesh. At the time of his arrest, he was only carrying a mobile phone with a Bangladeshi SIM card and Indian currency notes.
Mian did not cross the border with malicious intent, but he was rather desperate to meet his Pakistani friend who was getting married to another man.
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They met online
Upon questioning, he revealed that the girl’s family shared ties with his family. However, they were separated after his parents shifted to Bangladesh in 1971. A few years ago, he met with her on social media and fell in love with her.
“The girl is my cousin and we were connected through social media. We used to talk through video calls, but had been out of touch for 10 to 15 days. She had accepted my marriage proposal and that’s why I intended to visit her. I heard that many stranded Pakistanis were being repatriated these days, so I thought of taking a chance,” he said.
Mian said he first reached Kolkata, then passed through Agra, New Delhi, and then came to Punjab, mostly on foot. Guess there’s no stopping love from coming in the way.
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