Chinese man flies to Pakistan to marry Sargodha woman

26-year-old Chinese national met 21-year-old Shama on Facebook

The wedding rituals of a Chinese man, who had flown to Pakistan to marry a Sargodha-based woman, were completed on Sunday.

The 26-year-old Chinese national first interacted with 21-year-old Shama from Sargodha on social media and flew in with his sisters to participate in the wedding ceremony, which took place in a local church. Relatives of both looked happy at the wedding.



Donning traditional wedding clothes, the groom's sisters were seen in the pictures sitting next to a perplexed groom overwhelmed with the number of garlands being gifted.

The two had connected on Facebook earlier, and the friendship evolved when they both fell in love and decided to get married. The couple reached Islamabad post-ceremony and are expected to leave for China soon.

Last month, rumours circulated that China allegedly detained dozens of Muslim women in Xinjiang region who are married to men in Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B), according to Voice of America.

The issue was addressed in a unanimously passed resolution of the legislative assembly of G-B, lawmakers said. The resolution demanded the federal government take urgent steps to secure the release of more than 50 Chinese wives, who it says were taken into custody last year while they were visiting relatives in their native towns in Xinjiang.

The detainees are married to G-B men who are mostly associated with trading activity through the Khunjerab Pass, the only land route linking Pakistan and China, about 4,500 meters above sea level.



Regional lawmakers insisted the history of intermarriages between G-B and Xinjiang is decades old, and both the border regions share deep cultural ties. They asserted the detained Chinese women were innocent and had no links to any radical elements.