'Band, baaja, baraat' but wedding in limbo: Indian groom stuck at Attari-Wagah border

Jaipur: Rajasthan’s Shaitan Singh got engaged to Kesar Kanwar from Pakistan’s Sindh province four years ago. As the groom's family struggled for years to get visas, the cross-border wedding was hit by another hurdle when the government closed the Attari border on Thursday.

With his wedding attire ready and all set to tie the knot in Pakistan's Amarkot city on April 30, Singh along with his family and ‘baraat’ set out from Barmer district for the Attari border on Tuesday.

But by the time they reached there, authorities refused to let them cross the border as India on Wednesday ordered an immediate shutdown of the Attari-Wagah border as part of a series of retaliatory steps following the tragic Pahalgam terror attack.

"We've waited a long time for this day," said Singh, adding that after years of efforts, he, his father, and his brother were granted visas only recently, on February 18.

The groom’s cousin Surendra Singh said the situation has left both families disheartened.

"Our relatives from Pakistan had come here but they had to return. We are very disappointed. Terror attacks cause a lot of damage. Relations get spoiled. Movement on the border stops," he said.

As the cross-border wedding remains disrupted. The visa of Singh, a resident of Indroi village in Barmer district, is valid until May 12, giving the families a glimmer of hope that the wedding might still happen if the border reopens in time.

“Whatever the terrorists did was wrong. The wedding has been interrupted. What to do? It is a matter of borders," the groom said.

The cross-border marriage was arranged through family ties, a common practice among the Sodha Rajput community, which has a significant population in the Sindh province of Pakistan.

Many of them prefer marrying within the community and often seek matches across the border to preserve their cultural traditions.

Singh, who works in the finance sector, is one of many in the region with relatives in Pakistan. For now, his family waits in the hope that the situation improves and the border reopens in time for the marriage to go ahead.

India on Wednesday downgraded diplomatic relations with Pakistan following the April 22 terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam in which 26 people, mostly tourists, were gunned down.

A Cabinet Committee on Security meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, took a series of retaliatory steps, including suspension of the Indus Water Treaty of 1960, revocation of visa services of Pakistani nationals and immediate shutting down of the Attari land-transit post.