In a case similar to that of Seema Haider, who went to India from Pakistan,a married Indian woman has travelled to Pakistan for love to join Upper Dir resident Nasrullah in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

The government agencies are conducting an investigation into the development, however, unlike Seema, Anju has arrived in Pakistan on a visa that also allowed her to travel to this remote district in KP.

This is another story of friendship on social media turning into a love story, but this time the roles have been reversed as an Indian woman has fallen in love with a Pakistani man.

Anju, 35, from New Delhi and Nasrullah, 29, of Upper Dir, became friends on Facebook around four years ago. The friendship turned into love. She came all the way from the Indian capital to KP’s mountainous region apparently for him.

Valid travel documents

She arrived in Pakistan on Friday, according to Aaj News correspondent Nasir Zada.

The Upper Dir police confirmed to Aaj News that the Indian woman was in the district of Malakand Division.

The visa information form says that Anju was allowed to stay in Upper Dir for 30 days.

Anju has reportedly told officials in Upper Dir that she became friends with Nasrullah on the social media website four years ago. She said she was in love with her Pakistani friend and “cannot live without him”.

The couple visited the local police station on Sunday to register Anju’s arrival in the district.

Whenever an Indian national visits Pakistan or vice versa, they have to visit the local police station and show their travel documents.

At the local police station in Upper Dir Anju’s travel documents were found to be valid.

“Anju has a visa and she legally entered Pakistan,” Upper Dir SHO Javed Khan told Aaj News.

He also confirmed that the woman and Nasr were friends for the past four years, according to their preliminary investigation.

“She travelled to Pakistan via Wagah and then to Islamabad.”

Married woman

However, Anju is a married woman in India, according to some relatives of Nasrullah who told Aaj News that she was living an independent life and had a job in her home country.

They claimed that she has not come to Pakistan for the “purpose of marriage” but is interested in “sightseeing” only.

Local journalists were not allowed to meet Anju on Sunday when the story first broke. They were told that Anju and Nasrullah had gone out.

Nasrullah later told BBC Urdu that they didn’t want media hype around their lives.

He said they will get married on Anju’s next visit to Pakistan.

“In the next two to three days Anju and I will get engaged formally and then after ten to twelve days she goes back to India and then comes again for the wedding. This is my and Anju’s personal life. We don’t want it to be interfered with. We are trying to stay away from the media.”

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Upper Dir is a conservative region which borders Afghanistan.

Anju Parsad is from Uttar Pardesh and doesn’t want her details, especially th name of the firm she works for, published in newspapers.

She wants to resume her work once back in her home country.

Persuaded family and govt officials

Nasrullah said it took them two years to get through the visa process. They decided that Anju will first meet his family in Pakistan before they take a final decision about marriage.

His family is wholeheartedly supporting Anju’s visit to Pakistan.

Not only the family, they also had to convince Indian and Pakistani officials that they had every right to meet. Anju visited Pakistan High Commission in Delhi and Nasrullah frequented the offices of Pakistan’s foreign and interior ministries in Islamabad.

Religion not a factor

Nasrullah says religion is not a factor in their story. Whether or not Anju converts to Islam, it will be her decsion alone and he will respect that decision, he told BBC Urdu.

Local people have expressed positive views about Anju’s presence in Upper Dir saying she was a guest and daughter-in-law of Pakhtuns.