Finally, after a long wait of two and a half years, Nirmala from Pakistan, will soon join her husband in India. Her visa was granted by the foreign ministry on August 14, earlier this month.

On January 25, 2019, Vikram Singh Bhati and his baraat (wedding party) from Baiyya village in Jaisalmer, Rajasthan crossed the Indo-Pak border to Umerkot in Sindh province of Pakistan, about 200 kms away, for the wedding. Two others from the same village, Nepal Singh and Mahendra Singh also got married around the same time to women across the border.

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But just a month after the weddings were solemnised, on February 14, 2019, the Pulwama attacks happened in Kashmir and both India and Pakistan stopped issuing visas. For two years, the Ministry of External Affairs did not grant visas to the new brides and they could not join their husbands back in India.

It was only in March 2021 that the wives of Nepal Singh and Mahendra Singh reunited with their spouses. For some reason, the external affairs ministry had blacklisted Nirmala’s passport as a result of which her visa was not granted.

But now, Vikram Singh Bhati is all set to welcome his bride, Nirmala, after a wait of two and a half years.

Reuniting after two and a half years

“The foreign ministry did not furnish the reason why it blacklisted Nirmala’s passport, but we kept trying, and on August 14, this year, the ministry removed her name from the blacklist and issued her a visa,” Pankaj Kadwasra, assistant to Kailash Chowdhary, told Gaon Connection. “Nirmala is free to join her husband anytime she wants,” he added.

It was after considerable effort and the intervention of Kailash Choudhary, Member of Parliament (Bharatiya Janata Party) from Barmer in Rajasthan, did Nepal Singh and Mahendra Singh manage to get their wives over.

“Thanks to the efforts of the government and Kailash Chaudhary, my wife will soon be joining me,” said a happy Vikram Singh to Gaon Connection. “This is the first time she is coming to her in-laws’ home. Once the date is fixed, I shall go with my family to receive her at Wagah Border [in Punjab], he added. Vikram Singh is confident he will spend Diwali this year along with his wife Nirmala.

Till such time the Thar Express (a train between Jodhpur and Karachi that was launched in 2006) was running, there were nearly 20-30 weddings a year, say locals in the area. But the train was suspended after the Pulwama attack in 2019. The visas were not issued anymore by either country and then the COVID19 pandemic struck.

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The history

Even after Partition, families have forged relationships through marriage across the border between Jaisalmer-Barmer in Rajasthan and the Sindh province in Pakistan. Social worker from Barmer, Manoj Chowdhry who was part of the campaign to bring home the brides of Nepal, Mahendra and Vikram, gave Gaon Connection a glimpse into the history of this region that now falls within two countries.

“There are thousands of Sodha Rajputs who continue to live in Pakistan. They are descendants of the Parmar clan of Rajputs who ruled the Malwa region of central India from the ninth to the thirteenth century, till they were overrun by Alauddin Khilji when he attacked Malwa,” Chowdhry said.

But even today, the Sodha Rajputs living in the Sindh region of Pakistan, follow their clan’s centuries old traditions and practices. And, continue to marry their daughters across the border into families in India.

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“In Umerkot, Chachaura and Tharparkar, in Sindh province, there are many Parmar families living there. And because they do not find matrimonial matches for their girls, they come here to get them married,” Kavi Deep Singh Bhati who lives in Barmer, told Gaon Connection.

Of course, the Pulwama attack, the surgical strike by India in response to that and the pandemic have brought the number of weddings down, said Bhati. “There used to be a lot more weddings that happened in the years before Partition. Then, for obvious reasons the numbers came down. But even now, relationships continue to be forged,” he added.

Meanwhile, as Vikram Singh and Nirmala rejoice at the prospect of reuniting after two and a half years, their reunion will also spark hope in all those young women who are yet to get visas into India.

Read the story in Hindi.