Srinagar police officer ties knot with PoK girl amid unrest

(WITH PIX) Srinagar, Sep 2 (PTI) A young police officer from Kashmirhas tied the knot with a girl from PoK as cross-LoC bondsblossomed at a time when the state Police grappled with pro-Pakistan protests in the Valley. Owais Geelani, a sub-inspector with Jammu and KashmirPolice, married Faiza Geelani, a resident of Muzaffarabad inPakistan-occupied Kashmir(PoK), at a function here where onlythe groom’s close relatives and friends were in attendance dueto the ongoing unrest. The marriage was solemnised in a hotel here at a timewhen the cops have borne the brunt of protesters’ ire in theValley that has been rocked by nearly two-month-long unrest.The two families are related to each other but were separatedduring the Partition. The ‘Nikkah’ was performed in Muzaffarabad in 2014 whenShabir Geelani, father of the groom, had travelled to PoK tovisit his divided family on the ‘Karavan-e-Aman’ (the PeaceCaravan) bus service between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad. "The wedding ceremony had to be cancelled several timesdue to the prevailing situation during which the cross-LoC busservice was suspended for many days. Finally, when the busservice resumed, the bride and her close family membersarrived here on Monday for the function," Geelani senior, whohimself retired from Police department as SSP in 2014, toldPTI here today. Owais’ marriage with Faiza, a post-graduate in education,planning and management from National University of ModernLanguages, Islamabad was solemnised on Tuesday. The wedding comes at a time when the local cops, who arebattling the protesters across the Valley, have beenthreatened by militants to stay away from their duties. Housesof some cops have been ransacked by mobs since the currentunrest began in Kashmir on July 9, a day after HizbulMujahideen commander Burhan Wani was killed in an encounterwith security forces.(MORE) PTI MIJ GSNGSN