Tale of a woman sold across border

Bano looking forward to reunion after decades

KARACHI: A social activist Waliullah Maroof has won hearts across the border by helping an Indian woman, Hamida Bano, in tracing out her family in Mumbai.

Bano was trafficked to Hyderabad, Sindh some 20 years back. Sharing her bliss, Parveen, the younger daughter of Hamida Bano, thanked Waliullah and all the Pakistanis on behalf of her family. While talking to Bol News she said, “I do not have words to express the delight. It has been twenty years since we last saw her. All of us are thankful to the Almighty who sent Waliullah as a messiah for us.”

Parveen apprised this scribe that in 2002, Hamida Bano got in touch with a recruiting agency to find a job as a cook in Dubai as she has had a good experience working in Qatar for nine years in this role. However, she was not so lucky this time as the recruiters swindled her and trafficked her to Hyderabad in Pakistan.

Talking about her sufferings, Bano said “I wanted to save up for my children as they did not even have a house of their own, and Dubai seemed the right place to earn and save enough for a better future. But the agent duped me of 20,000 Indian Rupees and trafficked me to Pakistan”.

“I was locked up in a small room unaware of the place where I was being kept. After living for three months in confinement, one fine day I managed to escape and reached Manghopir area in Karachi where I have been living since then,” she added. Bano managed to rent a shanty here, and to make ends meet, started selling candies. But, her toil aggravated and she started running out of money even to afford a meal per day. Eventually, she sought shelter at a shrine in the Manghopir area where she married a poor man who, according to Bano, looked after her very well. And now, after her husband’s death, she is living with her son there.

Knowing about the tough times her mother had been through in Pakistan, Parveen was all praise for the lady. She recalled her mother’s hardships in Qatar as well and termed her as a ‘brave woman’.

Parveen also apprised that the recruitment agency closed down its operation in India. However, a report on fraud dealing was filed at the local police station.

The overjoyed Indian family is now waiting desperately to embrace their mother and has requested their government to play its role in facilitating them.

Waliullah Maroof, who is also an Imam (prayer leader) of a mosque, has been helping lost women in finding their families. He started his work in 2018 in an individual capacity and to date, has helped 46 lost women in reuniting with their families.

Talking about the vision behind his work, Maroof said that he has been doing this to help the lost ones. “In 2018 a woman named Zahida Khatoon living in my neighbourhood asked my mother to help her out in finding her family in Bangladesh. At my mother’s request, I recorded her video and uploaded it on my social media account. My friend studying in China shared the video with his Bangladeshi friend and somehow it reached her family. It went viral in both countries and the media highlighted it too. Since then, women across the country reaches out to me for help, and this is how it all started”, he stated.

Hameeda Bano has been living in my neighbourhood and had been coming to me for help. It was the first such case from India which I had taken up. It was a bit challenging as I have friends in Bangladesh but none in India. However, I uploaded a video of the victim on my YouTube channel and one of the Indian viewers tagged it to a journalist there who helped in finding the whereabouts of Hameeda Bano.

The Indian High Commission has already reached out to Waliullah Maroof in this regard, and Pakistani officials are also actively following the process.