An Indian woman, who was living in Pakistan for the last 22 years after being fraudulently taken there by a travel agent, returned home on Monday via the Wagah border in Lahore.
Madam Hamida Bano, 73, originally from Mumbai, was taken to Pakistan in 2002 by the travel agent along with four other women. He had promised her a job as a cook in Dubai and took Rs20,000 ($320) from her.
But after being kept at an undisclosed location for three months, Madam Hamida was instead moved to Hyderabad, a major city in Pakistan’s Sindh province, where she was forced to fend for herself.
She had no documents to prove that she was an Indian as all her possessions were taken away by the agent and his Pakistani associates.
Madam Hamida told PTI that her life in Hyderabad was tough. “It was like being a ‘zinda laash’ (living corpse),” she said. “The Pakistani government never harmed me, though.
“I used to live with a Sindhi fruit seller from Karachi who married me. But, after 12 years, he died due to Covid-19. After that, I lived with my stepson.”
In 2022, she contacted local YouTuber Waliullah Maroof, who shared her ordeal.
She told him that, before being duped to work in Pakistan, she had been financially supporting her four children in India after her husband’s death. She had previously worked as a cook in Doha, Dubai and Saudi Arabia.
Her story made headlines in July 2022 after Indian journalist Khalfan Shaikh watched the YouTube interview conducted by Mr Waliullah and shared it on his platform.
That year, Madam Hamida’s grandson saw the vlog and made contact with her. Her daughter Yasmeen also spoke to her over the phone.
In the video call, Ms Yasmeen is seen asking her mother: “How are you? Do you recognise me? Where were you all these years?”
Madam Hamida replies: “Don’t ask me where I was, and how I have been. I missed you all so much. I didn’t stay here willingly, I had no other choice.”
Later, activists in Pakistan and India helped Madam Hamida reunite with her family. Both India and Pakistan conducted extensive checks before her Indian nationality was confirmed in October, reported the BBC. The entire process took two years.
After arriving in India on Monday in a wheelchair, she recalled the 2022 video that helped her connect with her family after years: “My video was shared two years ago. Even then, I was not sure if I would ever (come back to) India.
“I was overjoyed to see the Indian tricolour when I reached the Wagah border.”
On Wednesday, ensconced in her one-room home in Kurla, central Mumbai, and surrounded by her two sons, two daughters and several grandchildren, Madam Hamida exclaimed: “Mumbai looks so different now.”
She had a piece of advice for those seeking jobs abroad: “I would like to caution people looking for jobs abroad that they should use the proper channels.
“Many women like me from India and Bangladesh who were deceived by agents are still stuck in Pakistan.”
