How to meet your match

Competing against matchmaking 'rishta aunties'.

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Pakistan's traditional matchmakers play a revered role in moulding daughters into potential brides, but marriage apps marketing themselves as halal are offering women a new route to finding a husband.

“When I saw my colleague happy after being married to someone she met online, I thought, since we have tried rishta aunties for four or five years, let's try this too,” said Ezza Nawaz, a textile designer in Lahore.

Rishta aunties - or traditional matchmakers - polish up women and present them to the families of potential suitors in a country where dating is considered dishonourable.

But in the last few years, marriage apps for Muslims have emerged in Pakistan promising so-called “love matches”.

Some offer a “chaperone” option - which provides a weekly transcript of sent and received messages to a chosen relative, satisfying families wary of their son or daughter connecting with strangers.

For Ezza, it was a success: just three months after meeting Waseem Akhtar on Muzz, she was married.

“We went on a couple of dates before we got our family involved. We took our time,” she said.