An Indian woman, who had been living in Pakistan for the past 22 years after being deceitfully brought there by a travel agent, returned to her homeland through the Wagah Border in Lahore on Monday.
Mumbai native Hamida Bano moved to Hyderabad, Pakistan, in 2002. She claims that an agent tricked her into going to Hyderabad district in Pakistan’s Sindh province by promising her a job in Dubai.
Speaking to a section of the media, an official said, “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.”
Bano conveyed her delight at being reunited with her family. She claimed that while she had given up on ever going back to India, she was fortunate to see this day.
Local YouTuber Waliullah Maroof shared her ordeal in 2022, stating that Hamida Bano left India in 2002 after a recruitment agent assured her that she would be hired as a cook in Dubai.
She was tricked and trafficked to Pakistan instead. Maroof was able to communicate with her Indian relatives through her vlog. She also had a phone call with her daughter Yasmeen.
Hamida Bano told Maroof that she had been supporting her four children in India following the loss of her husband before coming to Pakistan. She has previously worked without problem as a cook in Doha, Qatar, Dubai and Saudi Arabia.
Bano married a Karachi-born Pakistani man during her 22-year stay in Pakistan, but he died of COVID-19. She has been living with her stepson ever since.
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