Trapped in Pakistan, Hyderabad woman reunites with family after 21 years

Mangalore Today News Network

New Delhi, March 01: The Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) in Hyderabad witnessed emotional scenes on Wednesday night as Mohammadia Begum, a 45-year-old woman who was trapped in Pakistan, returned to her home city.

Begum, who was received by her father Mohammed Akbar, and her mother, Hajra Begum, broke down at the airport upon seeing her parents. Her parents had been trying to rescue her for over a year.

    “We are very grateful that she is finally back home. The last year has been very tough, but our daughter is finally in our arms again,” Akbar said with teary eyes, as Begum clung on to her father, wailing.

Begum arrived at the Delhi airport from Lahore at around 2 pm on Wednesday, following which she reached Hyderabad at around 9 pm.

Even before her arrival, Akbar spent tense moments waiting for his daughter.

"I haven’t seen her in years. I’m so overwhelmed by my feelings right now. The way she was treated over there makes me so angry," Akbar told TNM.

What Had Happened

Mohammadia Begum, a resident of Hyderabad, was married off to Mohammed Younis, a mechanic in Muscat in 1996, when she was 23 years old. She was Akbar’s third daughter, among his 10 children.
"I ran a puncture repair shop and I knew this local man who approached me with a proposal and said that he knew an Omani national in Muscat, who hailed from a good family. I made the mistake of believing him." - Akbar, Mohammadia Begum’s father

The ’nikah’ was performed over telephone through an agent and Begum joined Younis in Muscat.

    After more than 14 years of marriage, Begum got a shock when Younis, who had lost his job, disclosed that he was a Pakistani. By then, they already had four kids – two sons and two daughters.

Following this, the parents alleged that Begum was taken to Sialkot in Pakistan, where she had another child, and was being tortured since.

"They used to beat her, abuse her and not feed her on time. They would not let her call us, and she used to somehow contact us, and just cry over the phone. Our hearts would hurt, to see our daughter in such a state. I have worked hard to raise her, and this made my blood boil," Akbar said.

The Rescue

"Once she was taken to Pakistan in 2011 or 2012, she was treated like a maid. The woman’s husband also re-married and kept going back and forth to Oman, leaving her all alone with her children in Pakistan," Majlis Bachao Tehreek (MBT) leader Amjed Ullah Khan told TNM.

Amjed had taken up the woman’s case on a request from her parents in December 2016.

Since January 2017, he had repeatedly taken up the case with the High Commission in Pakistan and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj to help Mohammadia Begum.
"Initially, we did not even have her address. Through a media contact, we came in touch with a social activist over there, who offered to help. Begum used a relative’s phone and managed to send us a photo of an ID card given by the Pakistani government. That’s how we tracked her." - Amjed Ullah Khan, Leader, Majlis Bachao Tehreek (MBT).

However, their troubles were far from over. Begum’s Indian passport had expired in April 2016, but she had not been allowed to renew it.

After the Indian High Commissioner in Pakistan met with Begum, the External Affairs Ministry managed to secure a new passport for her, while the Pakistan government issued a visa.

    However, even after she was provided a visa, the woman faced an issue as she did not have money for a ticket, and neither did her parents. The parents say that her husband and in-laws refused to send her back, and held her captive.

In December 2017, after another representation to Sushma Swaraj, she tweeted, “She is India’s daughter. If ticket is a problem, we will provide the ticket to Mohammadi Begum for her return from Pakistan,”

While the Indian government provided for her ticket to New Delhi, Amjed Ullah Khan provided the air ticket to Hyderabad.

"I must also mention Akbar’s perseverance. He was always ahead of time for every meeting of ours, and he really worked hard to get his daughter back," Amjed added.

Akbar repeatedly thanked Amjed and Sushma Swaraj for their efforts, in rescuing his daughter.

Courtesy: Yahoo news