Love truly goes beyond geographical boundaries.
Yes, it was in the 2000s when Banya Baruah fell in love with her teenager-classmate Anirban Choudhury in Dhaka. Both were then students of Mastermind International School in the Bangladesh capital.
At the time, Banya’s father Golap Baruah alias Anup Chetia, one of the founders of the outlawed Indian insurgency group United Liberation Front of Assam (Ulfa), was incarcerated in a Bangladeshi jail.
Chetia was, in fact, jailed in 1997 for sneaking into Bangladesh to escape Indian Army action against the separatist rebel group. He was also charged for possessing huge amounts of foreign currency.
The Ulfa general secretary was, however, deported to India in 2015 to participate in peace talks with the Indian government.
Seven years on, Banya and Anirban tied the knot in Jeraigaon, her father’s native village near the eastern Indian state of Assam’s Dibrugarh town on September 30.
Another marriage followed by a grand reception is, however, slated for November 15 in the Australian city of Melbourne, where Anirban now works.
“I was not aware of their relationship since I was in jail then. But we have love and regard for people in Bangladesh for the kind of help they provided to us in our revolution,” Chetia recently told an Indian media outlet.
Chetia and a few youths founded Ulfa way back in 1979 and have since fought for a separate Assamese homeland.
Source: United News of Bangladesh