This 65-Year-Old Woman Was Imprisoned In Pakistan For 18 Years After She Lost Her Passport. She Just Came Back Home
One of the most heartbreaking movies I watched as a teenager was the hit blockbuster of 2004 – Veer-Zara. The cross border love story didn’t just break our hearts when the two who were clearly meant for each other couldn’t be together, but also when Shah Rukh Khan aka Veer had to be imprisoned in a jail in Pakistan for 22 years! Just imagining the plight of an Indian man, stuck in a prison in Pakistan for years on end for no crime, gave us goosebumps. As did the story of a woman who had gone to Pakistan 18 years ago and got stuck there after her passport went missing.
This is the story of a 65-year-old woman named Hasina Begum who travelled to Pakistan 18 years ago to meet her husband’s relatives, but upon losing her passport was sent to the Pakistan jail. It was only now, on Tuesday, that Hasina Begum returned back to India after 18 long years.
She shared, “I went through a lot of hardships and I am feeling peace after returning to my country. I am feeling as if I am in heaven. I was imprisoned forcefully in Pakistan.” And we can only imagine the relief and sense of comfort she must have felt after being released from the prison of a a different country.
Also Read : In Pakistan, The Horrifying Two Finger Tests On Rape Victims Finally Declared Unconstitutional
Hasina Begum had gone to #Pakistan 18 years ago to meet her husband's relatives but landed up in a Pakistani jail after she lost her passport.https://t.co/uHeE7GqVEr
— TOI Plus (@TOIPlus) January 27, 2021
Thanking the Aurangabad Police, for it was only after a report of ‘missing person’ was filed with them that they could find that the lady had a house in an area of the city, was that any progress was made into looking for her. And to imagine, she held her own for almost two decades in a foreign country, imprisoned for a crime, with no definite hope of being let out, we commend the woman for her strength and patience.
She shared her gratitude as she said, “I want to thank Aurangabad police for filing a report in the matter.” The police further to this, shared that Hasina Begum is married to Dilshad Ahmed, a resident of Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh, and was forcefully sent to prison, where she kept urging that she was innocent. Now, having safely returned back to India, the woman can finally spend the rest of her life in peace.
Meanwhile, India will be looking at conducting another exchange of custody with Pakistan as the External Affairs Ministry had said in a statement on January 1 how, “India handed over lists of 263 Pakistan civilian prisoners and 77 fishermen in India’s custody to Pakistan. Similarly, Pakistan has shared lists of 49 civilian prisoners and 270 fishermen in its custody, who are Indians or believed-to-be Indians.”
