Suspicion mars love from Pakistan

His smile barely containing the frustration in his eyes, Syed Imran Ahmed, 31, serves a bowl full of pista and black tea in the verandah of his Jali Road home in Bhatkal around 4pm on Thursday.
A day earlier, a plainclothes cop had come calling, asking about his sister-in-law who is from Karachi. The cop was informed she was at a relative’s house.
“Don’t you know she cannot leave?” the cop asked angrily.Rules mandate that she doesn’t leave Bhatkal without prior intimation, Imran, an advocate, is aware of the law. But regular checks to verify if such people continue to live here has become routine for Bhatkalis marrying Pakistanis.
Imran’s sister-in-law was in Bhatkal on Wednesday, yet he had to bear the wrath of the policeman. That she’s married to Syed Ismail Afaq, who has been detained for a suspected connection with Indian Mujahideen didn’t help. Other families which have daughters-in-law from Pakistan say that’s not the only reason. “Why are we being harassed? My son hasn’t been arrested,” a 56-year-old man seeking anonymity asks.
Cops have made it a habit to harass families, as locals see it. “Sometimes, they knock on our doors at night,” Imran says, but there seems to be no escape from this.
Marrying people from Pakistan is a tradition to keep alive a culture that’s today divided by post-Independence boundaries. “You must know that we don’t marry any Muslim from Pakistan. We only marry Bhatkalis who had gone out for business and remained there after Partition,” Syed Ashraf, 65, a member of the Islamic Welfare Society says.
All such weddings happen in Bhatkal, none in Pakistan. Imran says that at least 3-4 weddings used to take place in a year, and there have been at least 15 in the past 4-5 years. “But not anymore. People in Pakistan are worried about their daughters. Families with Pakistani ties are harrassed,” Ashraf says.
Suspicion that all Pakistanis have a potential terror link, coupled with Bhatkal’s own infamy, means that families here suffer, unable to speak out.
A cultural connection between countries in constant conflict could be used to pave the way for peace, but only brews more trouble in Bhatkal.