Anju will return to India on August 20; No plan to marry her: Pak man who met her on FB
Peshawar, Jul 24: A married Indian woman who travelled legally to a remote village in Pakistan to meet her Facebook friend will return to India on August 20 when her visa expires, her Pakistani friend said on Monday, dismissing reports of any love affair between them.
Nasrulla, 29, said that he has no plan of marrying 34-year-old Anju, who was born in Kailor village in Uttar Pradesh and lived in the Alwar district of Rajasthan.
Nasrulla and Anju became friends on Facebook in 2019.
"Anju is on a visit to Pakistan and we have no plan to marry," Narulla told PTI over the phone from village Kulsho in the district, some 300 km from Peshawar.
"She will go back to her country on August 20 after her visa expires. Anju is living in a separate room of his home with the other female members of my family," he said.
Anju has travelled to the Upper Dir district of Pakistan's tribal Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on a valid Pakistani visa of Pakistan's to meet Nasrulla.
According to an official document of the Ministry of Interior sent to Pakistan's High Commission in New Delhi, the chancery was informed that it had been decided to grant a 30-day visa to Anju, valid for Upper Dir only.
Nasrullah, a science graduate from a University in Sheringal, is the youngest among five brothers.
He has given an affidavit to local authorities, stating that there is no love angle to their friendship, and Anju will return to India on August 20.
The affidavit also states that she will not move out of the Upper Dir district.
"She will definitely go back on August 20 as per her visa documents," said Upper Dir District Police Officer (DPO) Mushtaq Khan.
Khan interviewed Anju in his office on Sunday and checked her travel documents on the basis of which a no-objection certificate was issued to her.
While Nasrullah has rejected any love angle to his friendship with Anju, police officer Khan said she came to Pakistan "for the sake of love".
"Anju has come to Pakistan from New Delhi for the sake of love and is living happily here," Khan was quoted as saying by Geo News.
He said the investigations into Anju's arrival in Pakistan have been completed.
"She travelled to Pakistan on a month-long visit visa and all her travel documents are valid and complete. Locals are presenting gifts to Anju, she is happy here," he said.
The DPO also stated that Anju does not want to interact with the media for any interview.
According to the report, Anju told local journalists her friendship with Nasrullah began on Facebook and later blossomed into a love affair.
She said she loved Nasrullah which prompted her to travel to Pakistan.
Nasrullah said they have been provided adequate security by the district administration and Anju is safe and sound with his family.
The villagers, mostly Pashtuns who are very religious people, want Anju to return safely to India as they do not want any bad name for their community due to this incident.
Anju's husband Arvind, who is in Rajasthan, is hopeful that his wife will return soon.
They have a 15-year-old daughter and a six-year-old son.
Anju's incident is similar to Seema Ghulam Haider's case. Seema, a Pakistani mother of four, sneaked into India to live with Sachin Meena, a Hindu man she got in touch with while playing PUBG in 2019.
Seema, 30, and Sachin, 22, live in the Rabupura area of Greater Noida, near Delhi, where he runs a provision store, according to Uttar Pradesh Police.
While Seema was arrested on July 4 for illegally entering India without a visa via Nepal with her four children, all aged below seven years, Sachin was put behind bars for sheltering the illegal immigrants.
However, unlike Seema who entered India without a visa via Nepal with her four children all aged below seven years, Anju has travelled to Pakistan legally from India via the Wagah-Attari border.
Anju's husband Arvind told the media in Bhiwadi, Rajasthan that she left home on Thursday on the pretext of going to Jaipur but later the family came to know that she was in Pakistan.
"Anju's husband said that she left home on Thursday. She has a valid passport," Assistant Superintendent of Police Bhiwadi Sujit Shankar told PTI.
He said that the family did not lodge a complaint after they came to know about Anju's travel to Pakistan.
Arvind told the media at his home that his wife Anju told her sister that she was in Lahore and later he spoke to her on a WhatsApp call.
He said he would talk to her and will ask her to return, asserting that he was hopeful that she would return home.
He said her passport was issued in 2020 as she wanted to apply for a job abroad. Arvind said he had no idea that she was in touch with anyone on social media.
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Putin meets Iran's FM Araghchi, says Russia ready to do its best to help bring peace to West Asia
Moscow (PTI): Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Monday met Russian President Vladimir Putin, who hailed the Iranian people for fighting bravely and heroically for their sovereignty and said Moscow is ready to do its best to help bring peace to West Asia as soon as possible.
Araghchi, who held talks with Omani and Pakistani leadership before arriving in Russia, met Putin in St. Petersburg and thanked him for supporting Iran, state-owned TASS news agency reported.
"Russia is ready to do everything in its power to ensure that peace in the Middle East is achieved as soon as possible," Putin said during his meeting with Araghchi, which was also attended by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
Revealing that he received a message from Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei last week, Putin asked Araghchi to convey his "gratitude for this message and best wishes for his health and well-being."
He praised the Iranian people for fighting "bravely and heroically" for their sovereignty, Iran's state-run PRESS TV reported.
"We really hope that, based on the courage and desire for independence, the Iranian people, under the guidance of the new leader, will weather this difficult period of trials and peace will come,” Putin said.
He also stressed that Russia “intends to maintain” its strategic relations with Iran.
Araghchi said that the world witnessed Iran’s strength in countering the US during the recent war, and that the Islamic Republic is a "stable and powerful establishment."
"With their courage, the Iranian people succeeded in resisting the US aggression and will be able to endure it,” he said.
He said that it became clear that Iran has “great friends and allies” like Russia, and conveyed “warmest greetings” from Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei and President Masoud Pezeshkian to the Russian leader.
Araghchi said relations between Moscow and Tehran represent a “strategic partnership at the highest level” and will continue to develop "regardless of circumstances."
"We are grateful to you for the solid and strong positions in support of the Islamic Republic of Iran," he said.
Foreign Minister Lavrov said that the talks between President Putin and the Iranian Foreign Minister were "useful and constructive."
Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov later said that Russia is "ready to provide any good offices, any mediation services that are acceptable to the parties."
"We will be ready to do everything so that ultimately peace ensues, guaranteed peace, and that there is no return to hostilities," Peskov was quoted as saying by TASS.
He was asked how Moscow can assist in future negotiations on the Iranian settlement.
Araghchi arrived in Russia after his whirlwind trip to Islamabad, which, according to him, was “very productive” and involved “good consultations" with Pakistan's Army Chief Field Marshal Asim Munir, amid uncertainty over the second round of peace talks to resolve the war in West Asia.
"We held good consultations with our friends in Pakistan. The trip was successful. We assessed the outcome of our recent (meetings) and discussed in what direction and under what conditions talks can move on,” Araghchi said in a video posted on his Telegram channel upon his arrival in St Petersburg.
Referring to the second round of talks between the US and Iran to resolve the conflict in West Asia, Araghchi said: "Developments have taken place in the negotiations."
"Despite some progress in earlier rounds, the talks failed to reach their objectives due to the Americans' approach, the excessive demands they made, and the wrong approaches they adopted. Therefore, it was necessary to consult with our friends in Pakistan to review the latest situation,” Iran's official news agency IRNA quoted him as saying.
He said that the trip to Pakistan was a good opportunity to review developments related to the US-Israeli war against Iran, expressing confidence that “these consultations and coordination between the two countries will be highly significant.”
Araghchi arrived at St. Petersburg's Pulkovo Airport early Monday, where he was welcomed by Russian officials and Iran’s ambassador to Russia, Kazem Jalali, the report said.
The first round of peace talks between Iran and the US, held on April 11 and 12, failed to bring the desired result for the parties to the conflict.
The Iranian minister arrived in Islamabad for the second time on Sunday after a short visit to Oman, where he held talks with Sultan Haitham bin Tariq al-Said on security in the Strait of Hormuz and diplomatic efforts to end the Iran-US conflict.
After Araghchi left Pakistan for Oman on Saturday, President Donald Trump announced that US negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner would no longer be going to Islamabad for talks with Iran, contending that Washington held all the cards on the matter.
Trump on Sunday reiterated that the US and Iranian officials can talk by phone for a peace solution to the conflict.
On Tuesday, Trump extended the two-week ceasefire with Iran indefinitely to give Tehran more time to prepare a unified proposal to end the war, just hours before the truce was set to expire.
The war began when the US and Israel jointly attacked Iran on February 28, killing Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and several top commanders. The retaliation by the Islamic Republic extended the war to the entire Gulf region.
