The heightening tensions between India and Pakistan can said to have coalesced around the relationship of Tahir Ali and Uzma Ahmad. Described as ‘India’s Daughter’, she was personally met by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj at Jawahar Bhawan in New Delhi on May 25 after intervening on her behalf. The story goes, Uzma met Tahir, a Pakistani citizen, in Malaysia. She travelled to his home on May 1, only to find that Tahir had was married and had four children. She was married to him at gunpoint, was sexually assaulted, and eventually escaped by taking refuge in the Indian High Commission.

In her reply to a judicial magistrate’s court in Islamabad, Uzma claimed she was “threatened to kill, harassed and badly humiliated,” and repeated she was made to sign the nikkah document with a gun to her head. However, Tahir, the Pakistani man in question feels he has been duped by the forces much more powerful than him at a time when he was about to begin a very happily married life with his newly wedded wife.

The details are still murky, and the case seems to have fallen by the wayside. But how did Uzma arrive at Buner, one of the remotest parts of the troubled Pakistani province of Khyber Pukhtunkhawa? Even Pakistanis think twice before visiting the area. And if the India Today report on May 9 is to be believed, the story isn’t as straightforward as that.

In an exclusive chat with Newslaundry, Tahir claims that Uzma voluntarily travelled to Buner after he received her at Wagha Border as she entered Pakistan on a valid visa, “She came to Pakistan on May 1, 2017 and on May 3 we got married” he said. “She stayed in Buner for three days with my family and during these three days there was no untoward incident”

According to Tahir, the two had a nine-month-long courtship in Malaysia, where they lived for two months under the same roof, “I discussed everything with her during these months……….I told her that I was already married and that she would be my second wife………….I also told her that she would have to observe strict Purdah after getting married with me……..no matter we live in Malaysia or Buner, she would have to observe purdah (veil)…..this is part of our Pukhtun tradition” he told us.

“There is no question that my woman will not observe purdah, I told her about it clearly before the marriage,’ he said.

Buner is the most conservative part of Pakistan’s North Western Pukhtun society, where the wives of farmers live a secluded life inside the four corners of home.

Tahir said that Uzma only spent three days in Buner and according to him three days are not enough to form an opinion about any society, “But regarding Purdah, there cannot be any leniency…….our women folk observe Purdah wherever they go” he says. Tahir didn’t seem to have an explanation of how easy to adjust to such a lifestyle might be to someone raised in Delhi. However, he was adamant that Uzma was aware of the nature of social conditions in Buner and agreed to live according to the traditions of the society.

Tahir’s family has lived in Buner for ages, as farmers. Buner is around four hours drive into North-Western mountain ranges, where Taliban and Pakistan Army fought pitched battles in 2009, before the former were evicted from their stronghold of Swat.

Buner is also famous for sending out its young people abroad to South East Asia in search of jobs. Tahir had travelled to Malaysia in 2010 where he worked as a taxi driver.

“I met her (Uzma) in Malaysia in 2016, some eight-nine months back…….I was a taxi driver and she came to Malaysia on a visit where we met while she came to ride my taxi” he said. “She told me that she was there in search of a job. She told me that she has no place to stay and no money to eat anything………..I took her to my place and she stayed with me for two months” he said.