Love, though wonderful and satisfying, can make us vulnerable at times.
Seema Ghulam Haider, a 27-year-old Pakistani Muslim, is the mother of four children. In 2019, she met Sachin Meena, a 22-year-old Hindu male, while playing the battle royale shooter PUBG. According to The New York Times, the battle-crossed lovers became closer as they fought for the virtual victory, eventually moving their chats to Instagram, WhatsApp, and other social media platforms in 2020. Haider was married and living in Karachi with her husband at the time, but he travelled to Saudi Arabia for a work and never returned. This was the location where Haider and Meena’s love developed.
The couple met for the first time this past March in Nepal, after being in a devoted long-distance relationship for approximately four years. They stayed at a motel for a week and promised to see each other again soon. Haider and her four children embarked on the risky journey after scouring YouTube for a means to cross the porous border between Nepal and India. Things were OK for the PUBG fans for around two months while they resided in stealth in a town outside of New Delhi. Haider even sold her house to pay for her vacation. But when they ran with Indian authorities, things swiftly turned bad.
According to The New York Times, the family was arrested this week. Haider and her children were charged with unlawful entry into India, while Meena and his father were charged with plotting to harbour a “enemy.” Haider is a Pakistani Muslim woman, and Meena is a Hindu man, and the Indian government condemns all interfaith unions.
“I don’t want to go back,” Haider said reporters as she was led away by police, according to The New York Times. “I’d like to marry Sachin.” I really like him. “I left everything for him.”
Meena also voiced his feelings for Haider. “We just want the government to let us marry and build a family,” he went on to say.
Meena wasn’t some wealthy playboy. According to the New York Times, he held a menial job at a corner store, earning around $100 per month. That didn’t matter to Haider, who just wanted to be with Meena.
“She knew he wasn’t financially strong,” Sudhir Kumar, the head of the Rabupura, India police station, told The New York Times. “She was not impressed by his work, but by his PUBG skills.”
The pair faces a possible prison sentence of several years, following which Haider and her children would most likely be deported. This entire situation is awful.
