- The untold ordeal of brides and bridegrooms of Pakistani and Chinese origins
- Videos of Pakistani brides emerge saying ‘living happily in China’
- Most marriages between China, Pakistan are good
- Illegal marriage brokers shall be punished, not brides & bridegrooms; says senior Chinese Embassy official
ISLAMABAD – The fate of several newly-wed couples of Pakistani and Chinese origins hangs in the balance in view of investigations by law enforcing agencies from both China and Pakistan following media allegations suggesting that Pakistani women were being smuggled to China for illicit businesses.
Two sisters living in a city nearby the federal capital have approached Pakistan Today to express their concerns about the impact of media hype on their personal lives.
“Me and my younger sister have married two Chinese men and this marriage was going happily for over two months now. However, since the scandalous news made headlines, my husband got scared and left for China leaving me behind,” said Saima* while talking to Pakistan Today.
Accompanied by his brother, Yaseen, Saima said that she had decided to marry Mr Zhang, a Chinese national, after her childhood friend who also wed a Chinese man had urged her to marry a Chinese guy.
“My Childhood friend is living in China and she is very happy over there. She persuaded me to also marry a Chinese guy and she proposed me one of her husband’s friends who lives in Shandong Province in China,” she said.
Asked to elabourate how much time she had spent with her husband who later flew back to his country, Saima said that they had spent over four months.
“Actually he was staying back here to get my visa approved from the Chinese embassy. Since the procedures are bit complex, it took us time to get visa. However, I am worried about my future now,” she said.
Yaseen, interrupting Saima, said that actually it was an arranged marriage after detailed communication between the two families.
“Not only we used to speak to Mr Zhang, we also used to speak to his parents and also used to interact through video-conferencing,” he added.
Asked how did they get to marry their younger sister, Yaseen said that on the wedding of his elder sister, they had met a friend of his brother-in-law who arrived along with his father to attend the wedding ceremony.
“The young man named Mr Lou and his father were so good that we decided to marry our younger sister too with the friend of Mr in April this year. Mr Lou belonged to Heilongjiang and is very loving and caring man. However, after the scandalous news breaking, I fear about the safety of my sisters,” he added.
Asked did the law enforcing agencies ever contacted them for any investigation, Yaseen says that no one ever contacted them yet. However, he said that local police officials was making a good use of the opportunity.
“One day, I was driving my elder sister and her husband to a function when a police vehicle intercepted us. Upon investigation, we produced all legal documents but the police officials tried to arrest my brother in law. So we were forced to pay money to police to rescue my brother in law. Later, my brother in law decided to fly back home to avoid any controversy,” he added.
Perhaps Mr Zhang was bit lucky though to have flown back without a controversy as compared to others who were stopped and harassed at Islamabad Airport.
On May 7, two couples were off-loaded by Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) officials from a China-bound flight from Islamabad Airport and after brief harassment, the two Chinese nationals were allowed to fly back to China while the Pakistani girls, Sameah Tabassum and Shabana Ashiq, were not allowed to go along with their husbands.
Later, Sameah and Shabana filed a joint petition with Lahore High Court naming the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, chief secretary for Punjab and the director of Federal Investigation Agency as respondents against offloading them from the plane.
Sameah Tabassum and Shabana Ashiq stated that they had married their respective Chinese husbands in January and were going to China but were offloaded from a China-bound flight along with their husbands.
The petition stated that the women were happy with their husbands and that “a propaganda on social media was looking to bring a bad name to Pak-China friendship”.
The petition sought that FIA be stopped from harassing women and their Chinese husbands, and that the petitioners’ passports and other documents be returned to them.
The FIA has over the past three weeks arrested scores of Chinese nationals and their suspected local abettors from various parts of the country in connection with its investigation into a transnational gang allegedly involved in contracting fake marriages between Chinese men and Pakistani women, who are later forced into prostitution and the illegal organ trade.
*Names of the girls have been changed due to security reasons. The Chinese nationals have been identified by their first names due to security reasons
THE TIDE CHANGES
Chinese Embassy in Pakistan has been very active since the social media went viral with claims of Pakistani women being allegedly transported to China under what they called ‘phony marriages’ and being allegedly been used for prostitution and organ trade.
Deputy Chief of Chinese Mission, Mr Zhao Lijian, shared a video at social media site Twitter, featuring a Sino-Pakistani couple clearing air about the scandal.
“Most marriages between China &Pakistan are good. Illegal marriage brokers shall be punished, not brides & bridegrooms. These are lies Pakistani girls are trafficked to China for forced prostitution or sale of organs. We investigated & found no evidence,” says Zhao Lijian.
“I am Hina Patras and I belong to Mingora, Pakistan. I am married to a Chinese national, Wang Tangchuin, who lives in Xinxian City, Henan Province, and I am living here happily,” states the Pakistani girl featuring along with her Chinese husband in the video.
“I came here after marriage around five months back. Thankful to God that everything is okay here. I’m very happy and my in-laws are too nice to me. So is my husband who is very loving and caring. Since I have arrived here, I don’t feel being an outsider or a foreigner”.
“Upon my arrival, I was given a warm welcome and was also accepted happily. Whenever I go out, people treat me respectfully and I can’t even tell how much respect I am given here being a foreigner. My life is going great and I am too much happy. I hope that the same continues in the future too and God would keep blessing both of us,” concludes Hina.
Another video featuring another couple is also making rounds on twitter.
“My name is Tina and I was married to a Chinese national about two years back. We also have a daughter. I am very happy and I have no problems over here and the rumours spread by certain people are groundless,” says Tina, also featuring her husband and a child in the video.
In another incident involving transregional marriages, Chinese embassy, on May 15, decided to withhold the visas of Pakistani women planning to travel to China with their spouses, after the complaints of human smuggling in the garb of cross-cultural weddings were received.
DCM Zhao Lijian said the embassy had alerted Pakistani authorities after witnessing an unusual increase in wedding visa applications this year.
“Last year, 142 Pakistani women applied for such visas after marrying Chinese nationals,” said Lijian Zhao speaking to media.
He said 140 Pakistani brides had applied for this category of visa this year so far.
“China is investigating all 142 cases of weddings that took place in year 2018, and initial investigations revealed that in a few isolated cases the couples were experiencing troubles … We are trying to determine if there are any problems,” he said and added that China is ready to help those girls if there is an issue.
Zhao Lijian also denied media reports about Pakistani women being trafficked and subjected to forced prostitution and organ sale in China. “Lies are being spread on the internet and the media that the Pakistani girls are being sent to China for forced prostitution or sale of organs. It is totally fabricated and for sensational purposes. There is no evidence for it,” he concluded.
