Indian missing woman reunites with the family after spending more than two decades in Pakistan.
According to BBC, a missing woman from India named Hamida Banu returned home 22 years after she was trafficked to Pakistan.
Hamida said that she had spent 22 years “as a living corpse," as she was trapped and unable to contact her country in India. She also revealed that she was tricked into going to the neighbouring country in 2002 after accepting what she knew at the time was a job in Dubai.
The 75-year-old told journalists after crossing into India via the land border, “I was deceitfully taken to Pakistan by promising Dubai. I tolerated (the separation) for 23 years.”
Moreover, back in 2002, Hamida decided to financially support her four children after her husband, who worked as a cook in Qatar, Dubai, and Saudi Arabia, died.
A recruitment agent who promised her a job in Dubai asked her to pay 20,000 rupees ($250; £200), but instead of Dubai, she was brought to Hyderabad, Pakistan, where she was detained for three months. Later she married a street vendor in Karachi who died in the COVID-19 pandemic.
Hamida made headlines in 2022 after an Indian journalist, Khalfan Shaikh, watched her interview video by Pakistani social media activist Waliullah Maroof on YouTube and shared it on his own platform, from where her grandson recognised her.
Following this, the Indian journalist and Pakistani activist arranged a call between Hamida and her family.
Speaking to BBC Punjabi, she said, “My video was shared two years ago. I was not sure if I would reach India. But the Indian embassy called me one year ago, saying, You can go back."
Hamida expressed gratitude after returning back to her children and siblings.
