This is an interesting love story that blossomed in Indian Punjab and Pakistani Punjab which has been very popular on social media of late. This is the story of a special relationship that began eight years ago.

Neither borders, nor religion, nor the bitterness of India-Pakistan relations could separate this relationship.

This love story began eight years ago, in 2015.

Naman Luthra, a lawyer by profession from Punjab, India and Shahleen Javed from Lahore, Pakistan are the two main characters in this story. The first meeting of both took place in 2015 and after about eight years, in May 2023, they both got married.

Naman is a Hindu, while Shahleen is a Christian. That is why both of them got married according to Hindu and Christian customs.

Naman and Shehleen had to face a lot of difficulties before they got married and then the day came when Shehleen came to India to get married and now she has decided to stay here.

Naman Luthra, who went to Lahore with her mother and grandmother, had her first meeting with Shahleen in 2015. Naman’s grandfather, a resident of Batala city in Punjab, was related to Lahore city in Punjab, Pakistan.

His grandfather had emigrated to India after partition. That is why Naman does not consider Pakistan as a stranger to him or the people who live there.

About his first meeting with Shehleen, Naman said: “My maternal grandparents belong to Pakistan but after partition they decided not to go to India and they stayed in Pakistan. Before that he lived in Punjab, he decided to come to India after 1947 and he came here.”

According to Naman, in 2015 he went to Lahore with his mother and grandmother to meet his relatives, where he met Shehleen.

Shahleen is her distant relative. After this meeting, Naman returned to India but kept in touch with Shehleen online and soon this contact turned into love. After that, both got engaged in 2016 with the consent of family members. That ceremony took place in Pakistan.

Shahleen says that after the engagement, she came to India with her mother and aunt in 2018, where she met Naman’s family.

Both families agreed to this relationship, but due to the bitter relations between the two countries, it was not easy to cross the border and stay together. At the meeting held in 2018, both families had decided that they would get married after some time.

But at the beginning of 2020, the Corona epidemic engulfed the world. Many countries have completely closed their borders or have imposed strict restrictions on international travel due to the possibility of spreading the epidemic.

Something similar also happened in India and Pakistan. India banned all flights from other countries. Since it was already difficult to travel between those countries due to bad relations between Pakistan and India, but due to Corona, the situation got worse.

In December 2021, Shahleen’s family members applied for a visa to India for the purpose of getting married, after the effect of the Corona epidemic subsided, but the visa could not be obtained. Approximately six months after this, that is, in May 2022, an attempt was made to obtain a visa again, but this time, too, her application was rejected.

In the third attempt, that is, in March 2023, only three family members tried to obtain the visa and this attempt was successful. Shahleen and her mother obtained visas and arrived in India in April 2023.

Says Shehleen, “Whatever you really want, you eventually get. Ever since we got engaged, I had thought I wanted to go there. I didn’t listen to anyone. I just thought no matter how long, no matter how late, I just have to wait.”

When the relationship between Shahleen and Naman was fixed and the engagement took place, there was a long gap between that time and the marriage. During this, both kept in touch through the phone and other social networks.

Due to the delay in the marriage and difficulties in obtaining the visa, their families again went to Kartarpur Sahib where they were able to reunite.

It should be noted that in November 2019, on the occasion of the 550th birthday of the first guru of the Sikhs, Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji, the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Pakistan was opened to Indian citizens.

It was not an easy decision for Naman Luthra’s mother, Yogita Luthra, to marry her son in Pakistan.

Yogita says that when he was young, he used to go to Pakistan with his mother to meet his relatives, but when his son talked about marrying a Pakistani girl, he was shocked.

She says that Naman’s father was also not ready for this marriage at first. According to him, “the big question was how the procession would go, there are many distances and obstacles. But Naman had made up his mind, so we also accepted this relationship.”

According to Yogita, Naman’s father agreed, but put the condition that the marriage would take place only in Batala.

He said that after the consent, the relationship was formally sent to Shahleen’s house. Naman’s grandmother, who had decided to leave Pakistan and live in India, did all this with great enthusiasm.

Naman’s grandmother says, “Naman is my grandson and Shehleen is my granddaughter. When I asked for this relationship, I didn’t think that both children would have to wait a long time to get married.”

He said that sometimes the relatives said that it is difficult to be like this, let’s make a relationship elsewhere. But both children remained firm in their decision and today God has filled the homes of both families with happiness.

Shahleen’s mother, who came to India from Pakistan for her daughter’s marriage, says that when Naman’s relationship came, it was a big problem for the family. And all together they had thought a lot about it.

“A lot of people gave us the opinion that daughters should marry close to home, meaning their in-laws should be close.”

Shahleen’s mother says, “We tried three times to get a visa, but even on the third time only Shahleen and I were able to get visas.”

She happily explains: “Here (in India) the wedding rituals continued for 15 consecutive days and we fulfilled all the wishes.”

Naman’s father, Gurvinder Pal, who works in the government, is also happy with this marriage.

Naman’s relatives say the efforts of Gurdaspur Lok Sabha constituency MP Sunny Deol and Batala MLA Aman Sher Singh Sherry Kalsi made it easier for Shehleen and her mother to obtain visas.