Jailed techie warns: ‘Don’t fall in love on Facebook’
It is a fact that the topic of “love” has been debated for centuries. Some swear it doesn’t exist while other romantics firmly believe everyone should set out to find their soulmates. A myth that is deep-rooted in our culture is a belief that love “just happens” when it simply sweeps us off our feet. However, in today’s world, social media has revolutionized communication and left little fertile ground for romance. Text messaging and online romance through websites such as Facebook, has left little chances to develop the art of relationship or opportunities for face-to-face relationship. Love poems and literature, are gradually becoming a thing of the past.
However, the pull and power of love does not always lead to a success story. That has been the case with Mumbai engineer Hamid Nehal Ansari who was recently released from Pakistan after spending six years in jail. Hamid had befriended a Pakistani girl online.
In a twist of circumstances, Hamid fell in love with the girl and in order to meet the woman he had befriended online, he travelled to Afghanistan and then in 2012, sneaked into Pakistan to meet his soulmate. He went to the girl’s house in Kohat, a town in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province which borders Afghanistan. It was true love – deep and unconditional, that drove him to take such a wild step.
The police were waiting for him. He was arrested for illegally entering Pakistan and in 2015 was sentenced to a three-year jail term on charges of espionage and possessing fake documents. Hamid was released from the Pakistani jail after completing his term of imprisonment and returned to India last Tuesday.
Hamid’s love whom he had gone to meet, testified in the Pakistani court in order to get his name cleared. However, the two never got to meet.
Life’s like that!
