A dramatic transatlantic romance took a surreal turn when 33-year-old U.S. citizen Onijah Andrew Robinson was stranded in Karachi when her virtual courtship with 19-year-old Nidal Ahmed Memon collapsed.
Robinson traveled in 2024 in October from New York to Karachi with a hope of getting married to Memon, whom she encountered over the web. On arriving, however, Memon, under tremendous family pressure for having a considerable age difference and for being a divorced mother of two, refused to consummate marriage. Thus, Robinson alone in Karachi with an out-of-date tourist visa and no accommodation.
With nowhere else to go, Robinson arranged a high-profile sit-in in front of Memon’s residence in Karachi’s Garden West district. She confronted a locked and unattended residence, for Memon’s family fled in a bid to evade a face-off with her. Not wanting to settle for less, Robinson demanded $5,000 a week and a grant of Pakistan’s citizenship. Her street demonstration soon gained a lot of traction, with a following and press coverage.
As journalists interviewed her for an interview, Robinson made an off-the-beaten-path demand, stating she’d only make a statement regarding her case for $3,000. “No dinero, no hablo,” she instructed newsmen, piquing even more curiosity in her case in the press.
Local authorities soon took over in consideration of her security and welfare concerns. She was initially taken into protective custody at a women’s police station, but Robinson refused to relent in her demand and re-entered the Garden locality, proceeding with her sit-in demonstration. To counteract the escalating scenario, Karachi police posted female officers for observation and security in and about her location.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Consulate in Karachi took over and arranged for her to fly out of America. She, nevertheless, refused to board, and stalled a 36-minute trip at Jinnah International Airport when she resisted immigration clearance. In a week of limbo, intervention by both the Sindh government and the JDC Foundation, who purchased a return trip for her and paid for her medical expenses, saw her depart Pakistan.
The entire episode has produced a lot of controversy surrounding danger and complications in transnational virtual relationships. As much as virtual reality helped enable trans-border dating, Robinson’s case is a lesson in the sort of cultural, legal, and emotional complications that can develop when virtual encounters become real-life engagements.