If you thought you were reading matrimonial entries in a Pakistani daily, get corrected. This is what marital proposals read in Delhi-based newspapers when Pakistanis and Indians in increasing numbers decide to come together to raise hopes for a permanent peace.
The peace initiated by New Delhi and well corresponded by Islamabad three years ago to encourage people-to-people contact seems to have yielded 'positive results'. Well, that may be old news. But the latest is that family links are being repeated among countless people on both sides of the border like never before.
There are more number of cross-border marriages happening, more number of people travelling each others side; there are Pakistani tourists travelling to Goa, and Indian Hindus and Sikhs traveling to Nankana Sahib. Official estimates suggest numbers of those traveling each others side have gone up six fold in the last 14 months.
Despite all too familiar hiccups on much too contentious Kashmir, Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh himself admit that a lot has changed between the two nations. Dr Singh acknowledged yesterday that determined efforts were made to improve ties with Pakistan.
"The peace process is yielding positive results," he says, adding "we have been working purposefully for all-round improvement of relations with Pakistan."
He told the parliament that India needs a 'long-lasting peace, friendship and amity' with Pakistan, and efforts are bringing 'positive results'.
Talk of growing number of cross-border marriages, and feel the wall crumbling. Family links can not simply be limited to Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf or Dr Singh alone. President Musharraf was born in New Delhi before partition.
Similarly, Dr Singh, who was born in Gah village, near Islamabad, often talks of his early associations there.
He is often quoted saying 'countries can choose their friends, not their neighbours'. Believe it in the words of Anand Sharma: "If such links are being repeated, be Hindu, Muslim or Sikh, it is just another instance of peace on track. Persistence and endurance is key. The results are going to be fabulous."
Sharma, a minister for state for external affairs in the federal government, says millions in Pakistan have relatives in India and scores here have their associations in Pakistan. Though it is not that even in the times of hostilities between the two sides the Indians and Pakistanis didn't sought matchmaking.
Chat room love, building ties through letters and personal contacts have all been there even before. But imagine Habibbulah Khan from Lahore coming to meet 27-year-old computer engineer Irfan here for his daughter's marriage.
Both tied knot with Khan's daughter Rukhsana finding a new home.
The daily Times of India started a matrimonial service in 2005 calling "LoC: Love over Country". It launched a weekly section what the newspapers marketing wizards described as 'unprecedented cross-border matchmaking effort'. Thanks to Indo-Pak peace initiative, they said.
The daily struck a deal with Pakistan's one of the largest newspapers — Jang, to offer the matchmaking service. Under the arrangement, brides and grooms in Pakistan, or Pakistani nationals living across the globe, posted their matrimonial ads through the Jang newspaper.
Similarly, Indians looking for partners in Pakistan were also able to advertise in the Jang. "We have for a long time believed in a borderless world. That people cannot be confined by artificial, man-made constructs," R Sundar, director for corporate affairs at Times of India had said then. Now it has only begun prove right.