Rajasthan Groom Reaches Wagah Border With 'Baraat' To Marry His Fiancée In Pakistan, Sent Back Home

Following Tuesday's terrorist attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, which has strained India-Pakistan relations, a long-anticipated cross-border wedding has been thwarted, leaving a family from Rajasthan's Barmer district devastated.

The wedding, which was set for April 30, was disrupted when the baraat (wedding procession) arrived at the Wagah-Attari border on Thursday, only to be denied entry into Pakistan, forcing them to return home.

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25-year-old groom, Shaitan Singh, from Barmer, had been engaged for four years to Kesar Kanwar, a resident of Amarkot in Pakistan's Sindh province, according to Hindustan Times.

The engagement had been arranged according to traditional customs common in border areas, where communities on both sides share strong cultural and familial bonds.

Since their engagement, Singh's family had faced major challenges in securing visas to travel to Pakistan to finalise the marriage.

After three years of navigating bureaucratic delays and diplomatic obstacles, they were granted visa clearance on February 18.

With renewed hope, they set the wedding date for April 30, within the validity period of the visa, which was set to expire on May 12.

However, just before the wedding procession could cross into Pakistan, fresh diplomatic tensions arose following the deadly terrorist attack in Pahalgam, which claimed 26 lives.

In response, India suspended visa services for Pakistani nationals and revoked all previously issued visas, instructing Pakistani citizens in India to leave by April 27.

Similarly, Indian citizens in Pakistan were advised to return home. As a result, Singh's wedding procession was stopped at the Wagah-Attari border and sent back to Barmer.

The groom's family expressed their deep disappointment over the situation.

"We waited for years and followed every legal process, but now everything is uncertain."

"After all the years of waiting and the struggles we went through to make this wedding happen, it feels like everything has come to a standstill. We were so close, but now I don't know what will happen next. I feel completely helpless at this point," he said.