Woman reunited with family after two decades
Bogra Correspondent:- Amena Khatun of Bogra’s Dhunot upazila, who was reunited with her family after 22 long years, says she is delighted to be back home. The octogenarian arrived at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka at 1pm on Monday on a special flight from Nepal.
Later that night, she reached her home in Chhoto Chapra village, from where she had gone missing in December of 1998. Her relatives became very emotional after seeing Amena who they thought was dead all this time.
However, the matter of her disappearance still remains a mystery as she could not say how she reached Nepal. Speaking to local journalists at her home on Tuesday afternoon, she said doesn’t clearly remember how she ended up in Nepal. “All I can remember is leaving home for Bagbari in Gabtali and seeing a large crowd of people before finding myself at an ashram in Nepal. I don’t remember anything that happened in between,” she said.
Responding to a question, Amena said all this time she stayed at the ashram and worked in the kitchen there. Locals presume that she entered India without a passport with other pilgrims and from there somehow reached Nepal. Amena’s long-time neighbour Alimuddin Pramanik said Amena had issues with her husband’s second marriage and started developing mental disorders soon after. However, Amjad Hossain, Amena’s eldest son, said: “My mother became mentally ill before my father’s second marriage. She was treated at the Pabna Mental Hospital more than once. Prior to her disappearance, she had gone missing twice. One time, she was missing for about six months.” He added: “After the death of my father Azghar Ali in 1995, my mother became very ill. Then three months after my younger brother Fatik moved to Saudi Arabia for work purposes in 1998, she suddenly disappeared. Even after lengthy searches, she could not be found. So, everyone assumed that she had died.” “Now, we could not be happier to have our long lost mother back,” he added delightedly.
Adilur Rahman, the octogenarian’s grandson, said: “Ahead of the last Eid-ul-Fitr, officials of the National Security Intelligence (NSI) informed us that my grandmother was in Nepal. We later identified her from a photo they showed us.” On Friday, Masud Alam, a counsellor at the Bangladesh Embassy in Nepal, arranged a video call for Amena and her family members, wherein Amena was able to recognize her loved ones.
Masud Alam in a Facebook post said that he had found Amena Khatun after learning that there was an unidentified Bangladeshi woman in the custody of Jamuna Gautam Pokhral, deputy mayor of Inaruwa municipality under Sunsari district in Nepal. Adilur told Dhaka Tribune that seven family members had gone to Dhaka airport to receive Amena, adding that his grandmother had recognized most of them. Amena was very happy to see her dear ones after such a long time, he said. Adilur also thanked everyone involved in his grandmother’s return, especially the Bangladesh government and the NSI.
