Lahore: An Indian woman who has been living in Pakistan for the last 22 years after being fraudulently brought to Lahore by a travel agent returned to her homeland via the Wagah Border in Lahore on Monday. Interestingly, the woman has finally returned home nearly 18 months after her grandson spotted her in a YouTube video. Hamida Bano, originally from Mumbai, arrived in Hyderabad, Pakistan, in 2002. According to her, an agent deceived her with the promise of a job in Dubai but instead brought her to the Hyderabad district of Pakistan's Sindh province.
"On Monday she arrived here by plane from Karachi and subsequently she crossed into India via Wagah Border. The foreign affairs ministry officials saw her off,” a government official told the news agency PTI.
Bano expressed her joy in reuniting with her family. She said she had lost hope of ever returning to India but she was lucky to see this day.
How did a YouTube video help a missing woman return to India?
In 2022, Waliullah Maroof, a local YouTuber, shared her ordeal that Hamida Bano left India in 2002 after a recruitment agent promised to get her a job as a cook in Dubai. Instead, she was tricked and trafficked to Pakistan. Her story gained widespread attention in July 2022 when Indian journalist Khalfan Shaikh shared a YouTube interview by Pakistani social media activist Waliullah Maroof on his platform.
The video eventually found its way to Banu's family in India, where it was seen by her grandson, whom she had never met. Moved by the discovery, journalists Shaikh and Maroof facilitated a long-awaited video call between Banu and her Indian relatives.
"How are you? Did you recognize me? Where have you been all these years?" BBC quoted her daughter Yasmin as asking during the emotional call.
Fighting back tears, Banu responded, "Don’t ask me where I was or how I’ve been. I missed you all terribly. I didn’t stay here by choice- I had no other option."
Hamida Bano marry again in Pakistan
Maroof’s vlog helped her connect with her family in India. Her daughter Yasmeen spoke to her by phone as well. In a talk with Maroof, Hamida Bano said before coming to Pakistan she had been financially supporting her four children in India after her husband's death. She had worked as a cook in Doha, Qatar, Dubai and Saudi Arabia in the past without any problems.
During her 22-year stay in Pakistan, Bano married a Pakistani man from Karachi, who died of Covid-19. She told BBC Punjabi that her husband never troubled her. Since then, she has been living with her stepson.
As India and Pakistan share a bitter relationship, both governments conducted extensive checks on her identity before her Indian nationality was confirmed in October, BBC reported. "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," she told BBC Punjabi.
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