Sushma Swaraj seeks report about Hyderabad woman stranded in Pakistan

Hyderabad: Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj has sought a report from the Indian High Commissioner in Pakistan about an Indian woman from Hyderabad stranded in the neighbouring country and being harassed by her husband.

The minister tweeted on Thursday that she has sought a report from High Commissioner Gautam Bambawale. Her tweet came after Amjadullah Khan Khalid of Majlis Bachao Tehreek (MBT), a political party here, drew her attention to the plight of the woman.

He appealed to Sushma Swaraj to help 44-year-old Mohammadi Begum return to India.

Her father Mohammed Akbar, a cycle mechanic, had also sent an email to Sushma Swaraj in January seeking her help in bringing back his daughter.

Akbar, a resident of Bandlaguda here, said his daughter telephoned him that she was being harassed by her 60-year-old Pakistani husband in Lahore.

He alleged that Muhammad Younis, who concealed his actual nationality and claimed to be from Oman, married her in 1996.

The 'nikah' was performed over telephone through some agent and Begum joined Younis, a mechanic, in Muscat. After 12 years of marriage, Begum got a shock when Younis, who had lost his job, disclosed that he was a Pakistani.

The couple has three sons and two daughters. One of the sons was born in Pakistan.

Begum had visited Hyderabad in 2012. Her father said this was her only visit to India in 21 years.

Akbar said she had been making phone calls to him and pleading with him to do something to save her from the life of torture that she had been forced to live.

Younis was also not allowing her to renew her Indian passport, which expired last year.