• Source:JND
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It was a heart-warming moment for Hamida Bano, who reached her home country 22 years after she was fraudulently sent to Pakistan by a travel agent. She was brought back to India from Pakistan via the Wagah Border in Lahore on Monday. The incident dates back to the year 2002, when Hamida Bano, who hails from Mumbai, was deceived by an agent with the promise of a job in Dubai but was brought 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," PTI quoted an official as saying.

Expressing her joy, Bano said that she was lucky to get back to her home as she had lost hope when she was taken to Pakistan.

The news about Bano being cheated and taken to Pakistan grabbed eyeballs in 2022 when Waliullah Maroof, a local YouTuber, shared her story. He stated that in 2002, Bano was promised a job in Dubai as a cook. However, she was tricked and trafficked to Pakistan. Maroof's vlog helped her connect with her family in India. Her daughter Yasmeen spoke to her by phone as well.

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Speaking to Maroof, the blogger, Hamida Bano said before coming to Pakistan she had been financially supporting her four children in India after her husband's death. She also mentioned that she had worked as a cook in Doha, Qatar, Dubai, and Saudi Arabia in the past without any problems.

Bano also married a Pakistani man from Karachi while she was in Pakistan. Her husband died of Covis-19 after which she had been living with her stepson.

In another separate incident that took place last year, Seema Haider, a Pakistani national entered India illegally with her four children to be with her partner, whom she met through an online game. Seema is currently living in Greater Noida along with her lover, Sachin Meena.

Haider, however, got arrested on July 4, 2023, for entering India without a visa, while Sachin was put behind bars for sheltering the illegal immigrants, but released later.

(With inputs from the agency)