Hindu girls from Pakistan marry Indians in Gujarat

Rajkot (Gujarat), Aug 28 (ANI): Seven Hindu brides from the Meghwar community in Pakistan tied the nuptial knot with Indian grooms, at a mass wedding ceremony in Gujarat's Rajkot city.

The weddings, in which nine couples took their marriage vows, were performed with Hindu rituals on Friday.

Out of the nine brides, seven were from Pakistan and two from India, whereas seven of the grooms were Indian and two from Pakistan.

"Today was our marriage and there were nine couples, and I was one of them. Seven girls were from Pakistan and two were from Rajkot city," said Dipak Visariya, groom.

The families of the Pakistani brides came to India as they are not permitted to perform Hindu rituals in the Islamic country.

"In India, our relatives are spread everywhere and in Pakistan we have less people, only our 40 to 45 families are there out of which 25 percent people have come here and remaining 15 percent are still there and want to come to India," said Poonam Visariya, mother of a groom.

Around 300 members of the Meghwara community are living in Pakistan since the partition of the sub-continent in 1947. Around 350 members of this community reside in Rajkot city whereas many of them are migrants. by Parish Joshi(ANI)