Pakistani Twitter users ask Indian minister Sushma Swaraj for help
Maria Abdullah starts social media campaign for husband Aleem Junejo’s lung transplant
Twitter users in Pakistan have sent a request to India’s Minister of External Affairs, Sushma Swaraj. They were joining fellow Pakistani Maria Abdullah in her campaign to get her husband Aleem Junejo to India for a lung transplant. Some used the hashtag #HelpAleemgettoIndia.
Twitter user @namakpaara_ posted: “@SushmaSwaraj please help save someone’s life. Maria’s husband has been sick for months and needs a visa for India to get a life-saving procedure.”
Tweep @Sitaraarshad wrote: “I hope Indian authorities listen to their pleas and do a favour to Pakistan. We all look up to you. #beyondborders #IndiaPakistan #PeaceAndLove”
Junejo was first diagnosed with a final stage lung infection in July 2018. The 34-year-old banker suffers from Kartagener’s syndrome, a rare genetic disorder causing recurrent infections. If not treated on time, the condition is likely to result in heart failure.
Maria, in a Facebook post, said: “... cardio-pulmonary transplant is not available in Pakistan yet.”
Maria zeroed down on India for a few reasons. She wrote: “It was cheapest in the world (we were not even able to afford that); we speak almost same languages; it was closest of all and, the quality of treatment was great.”
She started contacting people in India and got a call from Global hospital Chennai.
She sent them all the reports and they confirmed that Junejo needed a transplant.
However, their visa application was rejected by India.
Maria applied again and two weeks later, she received a call from the Indian High Commission in Islamabad. The officer said they could not apply for a visa again, but “gave us a little room to contact Sushma Swaraj and get special permission.”