For all those who know mine and Sarah Munir's friendship, you will understand how heartbroken we are that her visa application to India for my wedding in December was denied.
That my best friend cannot be there for what will be my biggest day is something that I cannot come to terms with. Forget the hustling, the paperwork, the months of coordination and prayers- we didnt know that it would end with a rejection.
Sarah has visited India and I have visited Pakistan, where we ha...ve stayed with each other's families. Her ammi and abbu are like my own and her family and siblings are like my own and we have visited mosques, churches and temples together. It's not until our respective countries/governments remind us that it is unusual for us to be doing those things together that we think of each other as "Pakistani" or "Indian."
It's extremely sad that even though we have never let religion, nationalities , our shared history and even cricket come between us, incidents like this repeatedly make us feel like we should.
We understand that our countries shared history has huge economic and political implications, but it also takes a toll on normal mundane things like human relationships and connections. Nobody thinks about that. Being friends and being there for each other should not be this hard just because we were born on different sides of the borders.
We hope that social platforms like Twitter ( where we have already received significant help) and Facebook, will help change these notions. Please do feel free to share this, so maybe the "right" people will take notice and help us in some way.
As you know, we don't give up that easily! #GetSarahToIndia
(photo credit: Yulia Denisyuk / In Search of Perfect)