Bitter-sweet reunion for 'missing' soldier

The sun is shining once again in the life of Mohammad Arif, the Indian soldier who was released from a Pakistani jail last month.

He got his freedom and reached his homeland last month and on Saturday he got back his wife who had been married off to another man after he went missing.

Arif, who belongs to Meerut in Uttar Pradesh, was serving in the 108 engineering regiment of the Indian Army during the Kargil war in 1999 when he went missing from the Mashkoh sector. He was declared an absconder by the Army in January 2000.

Earlier this year, the Army received information that Arif was languishing in a jail in Pakistan. He had been captured by the Pakistan Army during the Kargil war. Efforts by Indian officials finally bore fruit and Arif walked across the Wagah border into freedom last month.

However, his homecoming was marked by two rude shocks. His mother unable to bear her son's unexplained absence had passed away and his young wife Gudiya had been married off to another man because the family assumed Arif was dead.

"Gudiya had been married to Arif for a year and a half when he went missing. The Army told us that there was no hope of his return. Therefore, both families Arif's and ours decided that it was better to remarry Gudiya and the marriage with Taufiq took place in 2001. Today the situation has changed drastically and though we are in a dilemma, we will do what the elders say," says Chidiya, Gudiya's sister.

Though Arif tried to reconcile himself to the fact that his Gudiya was now another man's wife, local clerics created a situation by raising questions about the validity of Gudiya's second marriage since there had been no divorce.

On Saturday, the panchayat was convened in the Aurangabad village to deliberate on the issue. The panchayat declared its verdict and ordered that Gudiya be asked to return to Arif since her second marriage to Taufiq was null and void.

A major hitch in this was the fact that Gudiya is now eight months pregnant with her second husband's child and Arif said he would not accept the child. The panchayat decided that Gudiya would stay in her mother's home until the delivery and would return to Arif's home after that. The child would be brought up by Gudiya's parents. The arrangement has been accepted by Gudiya and Arif and their families.

An overjoyed Arif, meanwhile, brought Gudiya to his house in Mundali village amid great rejoicing and celebration.

- The Asian Age