Woman falls in love, marries AIDS patient

[Naveed Yaseen]

* Ex-schoolteacher Rubina says she was impressed by Asim’s courage in face of sickness
* Husband says Rubina will not catch HIV virus as they use protection

LAHORE: A woman has married a person despite knowing that he is an Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) patient, Daily Times learnt on Saturday.

Former schoolteacher Rubina Ashraf, who is in her 30s, came to learn of her husband Muhammad Asim Ashraf’s condition a few years ago, through a friend who was Asim’s relative. At the time, Asim was in hospital.

Rubina wished to see him as she had never seen an AIDS patient before. “I, and Asim’s relative, went to see him in the hospital. He appeared very weak, but confident,” she said.

Impressed: Rubina said that she had been impressed by Asim’s courage, but the thought of falling in love and marrying him one day did not initially occur to her. “I wished him good health. I also promised to help him in his cause as soon as he was discharged from the hospital,” she said.

She said that her husband was 19 years old when he had caught the infection through a syringe infected with the HIV, adding that he had been helping AIDS patients and highlighting their plight ever since.

She said that Asim was in Multan, starting an AIDS awareness campaign, when she met him again. “To my surprise, he had recovered from his previous ailment and was looking very energetic and very handsome. I started helping him to educate the population about the killer disease,” Rubina said, adding that she found herself falling in love with Asim and proposed to him. “However, the proposal was so appalling to everyone and seemed so weird that all people, including our families, were shocked. Asim even fled to Karachi to avoid the marriage, but I convinced him,” she said.

Concerning her family’s reaction to the news, she said her relatives had declared her ‘insane’, adding that her mother was the only person who had supported her. She said that they had contracted a court marriage a few months ago, after she told the Lahore High Court that she was “marrying Asim willingly and would be responsible for all the consequences of her act”.

Contraceptives: Asim said that Rubina would never catch the HIV infection as they used contraceptives and protection.

“We are even planning to start a family as my wife sometimes insists for. We have consulted some medical experts. We are planning to have a test-tube baby as we have heard that there are very remote chances of a baby catching the HIV infection through that procedure,” he said. afnan khan

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp...008_pg13_5