"I was deceitfully taken to Pakistan"
An Indian woman who was allegedly trafficked to Pakistan over 20 years ago has finally returned home and it was due to a YouTube video.
Hamida Banu said she had spent those years “as a living corpse”, trapped in Pakistan and unable to contact her family.
Hamida was tricked into going to Pakistan after accepting what was supposed to be a job in Dubai in 2002.
Both India and Pakistan carried out extensive checks on her identity before her Indian nationality was confirmed in October 2024.
After returning to India, the 75-year-old said:
“I was deceitfully taken to Pakistan by promising Dubai. I tolerated [the separation] for 23 years.”
In 2002, Hamida financially supported her four children after her husband’s death by working as a cook in Qatar, Dubai and Saudi Arabia.
She recalled being approached by a recruitment agent who offered to get her a job in Dubai.
The agent asked her to pay Rs. 20,000 (£185), which Hamida did. But instead of Dubai, she was brought to Hyderabad, Pakistan, and was detained in a house for three months.
Whilst in Pakistan, she married a street vendor in Karachi. He passed away during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Hamida’s story hit headlines in July 2022 after Indian journalist Khalfan Shaikh watched her YouTube interview conducted by activist Waliullah Maroof and shared it on his platform.
It reached Hamida’s family in India when her grandson – who she had never met – saw it.
Khalfan and Waliullah then arranged a call between Hamida and her family.
Her daughter Yasmin asked in the video call:
“How are you? Did you recognise me? Where were you all these years?”
Hamida replied:
“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.”
The Indian woman returned to India on December 16, 2024, and she was happy to reunite with her children and siblings.
She admitted that she did not predict that a 2022 YouTube video would be fundamental in bringing her back home.
Hamida 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.
“I have brothers, sisters, children there [in India], but I don’t want to be a burden on anyone.”
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