Sold as a child, trafficked to Pakistan: Bangladeshi woman returns home after decades
The return of six women becomes possible through an unlikely chain of events involving social media and volunteers working across borders
Taken from Bangladesh at just 11 or 12 years old with promises of work selling clothes in India by a distant relative, Jahanara Khuku soon realised her fate had taken a darker turn. Within three days, she was trafficked from India again, this time to Pakistan.
"After reaching Pakistan, I learned I had been sold for Tk25,000," Jahanara, now 59, recalled in Urdu, her voice heavy with memory as she stared into the distance, as if she was watching the scene from 47 years ago unfold before her eyes.
Originally from Nabagram in Satkhira, Jahanara stood at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka on Friday morning (6 February), struggling to piece together how she had been taken away as a child. Many memories remained blurred, yet the pain she endured, buried for nearly five decades, resurfaced in her voice.
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They used to beat me. They would say, 'Stay quiet, or we will kill you'
In Pakistan, where she was sold, "They used to beat me. They would say, 'Stay quiet, or we will kill you'," she told The Business Standard.
Jahanara, who now lives in Ratedhara village at Larkana district in the Sindh province of Pakistan, is not alone. Like her, five other Bangladeshi women trafficked in childhood or youth finally returned home on Friday after spending decades in Pakistan, separated from their families, identities, and memories of home.
The women arrived in Dhaka early Friday on a Biman Bangladesh Airlines flight from Karachi. Their return marked the end of decades of uncertainty and the beginning of emotional reunions with a homeland many feared they would never see again.
The other five women are Amena from Aminpur in Pabna, Hajera from Bhola, Jayeda from Ekuria in Keraniganj, Rabeya Bibi from Kotwali in Rangpur, and Monowara Khatun from Lalmohan in Bhola.
Most spent between 30 and nearly 50 years away from their motherland. Trafficked with false job promises, many endured exploitation and abuse for a long time before they managed to escape the traffickers and build lives in Pakistan.
Over time, they married, had children and families there, yet the longing for home never faded.
These women, now Pakistani citizens, have returned to their motherland with three- or six-month visit/tourist visas, as their husbands, children, and settled lives remain in Pakistan. After meeting relatives, they will have to return there again.
Festivals like Eid, weddings and moments of joy often felt incomplete without their own family around them, Jahanara said.
Many times, I felt alone, as my own relatives were not around. I always missed my Nani, Mama, and my Khala's children
"Many times, I felt alone, as my own relatives were not around. I always missed my Nani, Mama, and my Khala's children," said Jahanara, who has come home for just a month.
Now a mother of nine, seven daughters and two sons, Jahanara said life could have taken a far worse turn.
Her maternal cousin Khokon, who came to receive her at the airport, said that after eventually escaping in Pakistan, Jahanara found shelter elsewhere, later marrying Nadar, a driver by profession, and starting a family.
"Lakh shukriya... Allah is great, because my husband turned out to be a good man," Jahanara said. "Otherwise, even our bodies might never have been found."
Lakh shukriya... Allah is great, because my husband turned out to be a good man. Otherwise, even our bodies might never have been found
Her mother died when she was very young, and before being trafficked, she lived with her maternal grandmother and uncle. Despite building a large family in Pakistan, memories of Bangladesh never left her.
Regarding citizenship in Bangladesh, Jahanara said she has not thought about anything like that. "My family is in Pakistan, so I will return there."
She may come back to Bangladesh again in the future to visit. Having spent most of her life in a foreign country, she said there is no situation or opportunity now for her to settle permanently here.
The homecoming
The return of the women became possible through an unlikely chain of events involving social media and volunteers working across borders.
On the Bangladesh side, the volunteer initiative "Khoj" played the key role in connecting the women with their relatives and bringing them back home.
So far, around 270 people, including two men, have managed to come and reconnect with relatives through Pakistani human rights activist Waliullah Maroof and the Bangladesh-based volunteer initiative, said Tanvir Hasan, a member of Khoj.
The process began in 2018 when Maroof, an imam by profession, posted on Facebook the photograph and partial Bangladeshi address of a neighbour, Jayeda, who had told him she had been trafficked from Bangladesh many years ago.
"My mother had suggested posting her photo and details on Facebook," Maroof told TBS. "Later, Monzur [another member of Khoj] from Bangladesh contacted us and managed to trace their Bangladeshi relatives and addresses."
My mother had suggested posting her photo and details on Facebook
Since then, Tanvir said, many trafficked or missing women in Pakistan contacted Maroof with details such as photos, partial addresses, and some names. After Maroof shares the information with the volunteers in Bangladesh, they then begin the search at the union and village levels, contact union parishad chairmen and members to trace families, and confirm the identities of people who had lost their homeland in childhood.
Maroof also assists the women living in Pakistan in becoming naturalised citizens, obtaining passports, and processing visas. However, he added, many more still wish to return but cannot due to a lack of proper documentation or passports.
The effort remains entirely humanitarian and operated through a Facebook page. "We do this voluntarily. We don't take any money from anyone. It is simply about helping people find their families," said Tanvir.
At the airport, some of the six women were seen weeping quietly as the return had become both joyful and painful at the same time.
After decades away, they have returned, though briefly, to the place they still call home. While their family homes and relatives do exist, many of those they longed to see are no longer alive, making the homecoming bittersweet.
