A missing Indian woman found in Pakistan has returned home

An Indian woman who says she was taken to Pakistan more than two decades ago is finally back home – 18 months after her grandson spotted her in a YouTube video.

Hamida Banu said she had spent the past 22 years “like a living corpse”, trapped in a neighboring country and unable to contact her family.

Ms Bana was tricked into going to Pakistan after she accepted a job in Dubai in 2002.

Both India and Pakistan, which have frosty bilateral relations, conducted thorough background checks on her before her Indian citizenship was confirmed in October.

“They tricked me into Pakistan, promising Dubai. I endured (separation) for 23 years,” the 75-year-old told reporters after crossing the border with India at the land border.

Back in 2002, Ms. Banu supported her four children financially after her husband’s death by working as a cook in Qatar, Dubai and Saudi Arabia.

A recruitment agent approached her and said that she could help her get a job in Dubai. The agent asked her to pay 20,000 rupees ($250; £200).

But as Ms. Banu recalled in her video interview in 2022, instead of Dubai, she was brought to the city of Hyderabad in Pakistan and kept in a house for three months.

She later married a street vendor in Karachi who died during the Covid-19 pandemic. She told BBC Punjabi that her husband never bothered her.

Her story made headlines in July 2022 after Indian journalist Khalfan Sheikh happened to watch a YouTube interview of Pakistani social media activist Waliullah Maruf and shared it on his platform.

It reached Ms. Banu’s family in India when her grandson, whom she had never met, did.

Mr Sheikh and Mr Maroof then arranged a call between Ms Banu and her Indian family.

“How are you? Did you recognize me? Where have you been all these years?” Ms Banu’s daughter Yasmin was seen asking in a video call.

“Don’t ask me where I was and how I was. I missed you very much. I did not stay here voluntarily, I had no other choice,” Ms. Banu answered.

After she reached India on Monday, Ms. Banu recalled the 2022 video that helped her connect with her family years later.

“My video was shared two years ago. I wasn’t sure if I would make it to India,” she said. “But a year ago I got a call from the Indian embassy saying you can come back.”

Speaking to BBC Punjabi, Ms Banu said she was happy to be back with her children and siblings. “I have brothers, sisters, children there (in India), but I don’t want to be a burden to anyone.”

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