Lacking Indian girl present in Pakistan returns house

An Indian girl who says she was trafficked to Pakistan greater than 20 years in the past has lastly returned house, 18 months after her grandson noticed her in a YouTube video.

Hamida Banu mentioned she had spent the previous 22 years “like a dwelling corpse”, trapped within the neighboring nation and unable to contact her household.

Ms Banu was induced to maneuver to Pakistan after accepting what was speculated to be a job in Dubai in 2002.

India and Pakistan – which share frosty bilateral relations – carried out intensive checks on his identification earlier than his Indian citizenship was confirmed in October.

“I used to be deceived into Pakistan with the promise of Dubai. I tolerated [the separation] for 23 years,” the 75-year-old informed reporters after crossing the land border into India.

In 2002, Ms Banu supported her 4 kids financially after the dying of her husband by working as a cook dinner in Qatar, Dubai and Saudi Arabia.

She was approached by a recruitment agent who informed her she may assist her discover a job in Dubai. The officer requested him to pay 20,000 rupees ($250; £200).

However, as Ms. Banu recalled in her 2022 video interview, as a substitute of Dubai, she was taken to the town of Hyderabad in Pakistan and held in a home for 3 months.

She later married a road vendor from Karachi, who died throughout the Covid-19 pandemic. She informed BBC Punjabi that her husband by no means bothered her.

His story made headlines in July 2022 after Indian journalist Khalfan Shaikh watched the YouTube interview finished by Pakistani social media activist Waliullah Maroof and shared it on his platform.

It reached Ms Banu’s household in India when her grandson – whom she had by no means met – noticed it.

Mr Shaikh and Mr Maroof then organized a name between Ms Banu and her Indian household.

“How are you? Did you acknowledge me? The place have you ever been all these years?” Ms Banu’s daughter Yasmin was seen asking throughout the video name.

“Do not ask me the place I used to be and the way I used to be. I missed you all a lot. I did not keep right here voluntarily, I had no different selection,” Ms Banu replied.

After reaching India on Monday, Ms Banu recalled the 2022 video that helped her reconnect along with her household after years.

“My video was shared two years in the past. I wasn’t positive if it will attain India,” she mentioned. “However the Indian embassy referred to as me a yr in the past to inform me you can come again.”

Chatting with BBC Punjabi, Ms Banu mentioned she was comfortable to be again along with her kids and siblings. “I’ve brothers, sisters, kids there [in India]however I don’t wish to be a burden to anybody.”

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