Out of several million events that took place all through the year 2018, two very parallel happenings in India and Pakistan drew everyone’s attention. It was the dreadful tale of two different persons who crossed international borders that separate two hostile countries. Their long ordeals were discussed among the people of both the nations on the world’s physical map.
One is Hamid Nihal Ansari, arrested in Kohat, Pakistan, in 2012, and now returned. A 33-yr-old Mumbai resident, he spent the last three years in a Peshawar jail, after being accused of possessing a fake Pakistani identity card. On December 13, the Peshawar High Court gave the federal government a deadline to complete his repatriation process. The other is Mohd Imran Warsi, a Pakistani national, who arrived in India to meet his relatives in Calcutta, in the year of 2004. In the meantime, he fell in love with an Indian woman. On reaching Bhopal in 2008, he was arrested by the police—on charges of conspiracy, cheating, and forging documents—under provisions of the Passport Act and the Official Secrets Act. He was sentenced to a 10-year jail term, with a fine of ₹8,000. The term ended in March 2018. His freedom from Shahjahanabad police station was entangled in legal formalities.
There was, of course, no day when these hostile States do not show antipathy on matters related to political hot topics. Their frequent encounters are given enough importance from their citizens and politicians. This fact prominently surfaces at the time of television talk. At present, there is a discernible increase in the trend of stating that any Muslim Indian should be sent to Pakistan. Very honestly, the BJP’s national spokesman Shahnawaz Hussain emphasised that Muslims in India were clearly patriotic, nationalistic, and supporters of inherent values enshrined in the Indian Constitution. However, politics plays its role.
What famed Urdu poet Mirza Ghalib described as “Ye aag ka dariya hai, doob kar isme jana hai (It is a river of fire, to cross it we must dive into it)” goes well with the two different men of India and Pakistan, who had to face trial for love. Here Gœthe’s lines, “The soul that sees beauty may sometimes walk alone”, also stick.
One Indian youth crossed the country’s border to reach Pakistan via Afghanistan in search of her unseen beloved. Another man from Pakistan was so enticed by an Indian’s face that he stayed back in Bhopal. It was really something they had never imagined doing. It happened, and they found themselves behind bars, amazingly!
Mohammad Imran Warsi, a Pakistan national, entered Indian land in the year 2004, and the Indian man, Hamid Nihal Ansari, happened to enter Pakistani territory in the year 2012. Imran stayed back after marrying his beloved, while Hamid did not find his. It was a turn of their exceptional fate which ensured their return to their respective countries. Mumbai resident Hamid was sent back to India after serving three years in a Peshawar jail. His complete imprisonment was for six years. His father said his intentions was not wrong, and so he returned by the Grace of the Almighty.