Married and moved to Kerala, Pakistani woman granted Indian citizenship

The couple met through social media.

Maryam Youssuf from Pakistan followed her love across the border in Indian's Kerala and is officially now an Indian citizen.
Maryam, who moved to India in 2008 after marriage, was handed over her citizenship certificate early this month, according to reports in Manorama Online.

Lahore native Maryam met Imdad Shamil from Palakkad through social media and the two soon fell in love. However, it wasn't an easy task to make their relationship official and hence Imdad flew to Lahore to meet Maryam and her parents. Touched by the couple's love for each other, Maryam's parents happily agreed for the wedding.

Imdad visited Lahore again with his relatives to tie the knot with Maryam in a religious ceremony which was followed by a wedding reception both in Lahore and Palakkad.
Maryam moved to India in 2008 but applied for citizenship only in 2017 as according to Indian law a person should have resided in the country for at least 7 years in order to apply for Indian citizenship.

The old adage 'love knows no bounds' holds true for Maryam and Imdad who overcame all barriers to be together. The couple have two children and Urdu-Punjabi-speaking Maryam has learnt Malayam as well, said Imdad an employee at a private firm in Palakkad.

• India
• Pakistan