New Delhi: A US woman’s ill-fated attempt to marry her teenage Pakistani boyfriend online has taken an extraordinary turn, culminating in a months-long stay in Pakistan and a psychiatric evaluation. Onijah Andrew Robinson, a 33-year-old mother of two, flew from New York to Karachi to wed 19-year-old Nidal Ahmed Memon, only to be met with rejection from his family, The New York Post reported.
Onijah’s wedding dreams quickly crumbled when Memon’s family refused to sanction the union, leaving her stranded in Pakistan with an expired visa. Instead of returning home, Onijah chose to camp outside Memon’s seemingly abandoned Karachi house. Her plight garnered attention after Pakistani activist and YouTuber Zaffar Abbas highlighted her plight on social media. This prompted Sindh Governor Kamran Khan Tessori to intervene, offering visa assistance and a flight back to the US.
However, Onijah’s response defied expectations. She not only refused to leave but embarked on a series of erratic actions, holding press conferences to detail her situation and offer commentary on Pakistani society. Her demands escalated from an initial 3,000 dollar weekly allowance from Memon to a staggering 100,000 dollars from the Pakistani government, including a 20,000 dollar cash payment and demanded Pakistani citizenship, according to a Times of India report.
She justified her need for this significant sum by claiming it was against her religion to disclose the reason. Further complicating matters, her claims about her relationship status and future plans were highly inconsistent.
Onijah’s son, Jeremiah Andrew Robinson, revealed that his mother suffers from bipolar disorder and is mentally ill. He stated that he and his sibling had attempted unsuccessfully to convince her to return to the US.
In light of these revelations, Onijah was admitted to the psychiatry department at Karachi’s Jinnah Post Graduate Hospital for a mental health evaluation.
After several months in Pakistan, Onijah has finally returned to the US, concluding this remarkable and unusual tale of international romance gone wrong, according to The Independent.
