Devout Pakistanis Use Internet to Marry

Paki Matrimonial Website: www.mehndi.com

United Press International, Los Angeles ~ Islamic devotion and Internet dating are emerging as dual signatures of some Pakistani communities where matchmaking has long been a family affair.

One of the most successful symbols of that is www.mehndi.com, a "matrimonial" website tailored to traditional Pakistanis, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Founded in March 2004 by Mehndi Bokhari, a Pakistani who lives in Canada, the site features numerous personals posted by eligible Muslim young people -- and their parents. By pursuing the process together, families retain Islam's traditional parental oversight of the matchmaking process, he said.

Mehndi, however, is not the only such service. Take "Shaadi Online," where producers interview the parents of a "candidate" as well as the bachelor or bachelorette, and the explicit goal is marriage.

The show already airs in the Persian Gulf state of Dubai, home to a sizable Pakistani community.

Shaadi Online producers are developing a searchable online database of marriage candidates and plan to launch the program via satellite in the United States soon.

Copyright 2004 by United Press International.