HYDERABAD: A young Pakistani girl, who had gone missing in Hyderabad on Sept 19, 2022, and appeared four months later in Bengaluru, India, after police arrested the man she was living with on Jan 26, has finally returned to Pakistan through Wagah border, according to the minor girls’ uncle and police.

“I can’t share more details -- about how it came about -- but I can only confirm that Iqra is with us now and we are still in Lahore,” said Sohail Jeewani, the girl’s father while talking to Dawn on phone on Monday. Sohail was reluctant to share how her daughter made her homeward journey.

His younger brother, Afzal Jeewani, who accompanied him, said they would soon be returning to Hyderabad.

Hyderabad DSP Aurangzeb Abbasi said that he had learnt from his sources that the girl had joined her family in Lahore that day and they would be coming back to their native city soon. It could not be learnt how the girl had returned to Pakistan and what procedure had led to her comeback, he said.

Iqra, a student of Federal Government Girls College, Hyderabad, had left her home on Sept 19, 2022, for college as usually but did not return. The family grew suspicious and mounted a search but failed to find her at all the places where she could have been. His father finally lodged a case at City police station.

Iqra’s family resides in Shahi Bazaar, Hyderabad. Later, she contacted her family over phone from India, informing them that she had reached Bangaluru and married one Mulayam Singh Yadav. A few days after her contact, she was arrested along with her purported husband.

The family is tight-lipped over details of her return after arrest in India

According to a family source, the girl had got in touch with the man through online Ludo game for around seven-eight months before she left the country. ““We were told that the man is Muslim and his name is Sumair Ansari but he turned out to be a non-Muslim. He has clearly deceived the girl,” said the girl’s uncle.

According to reports, Bengaluru police arrested Yadav on Jan 26, 2023, accusing him of bringing a Pakistani girl to India after befriending her in an online game. The man asked the girl to come to Bengaluru so they could get married and made a plan to bring her over to India through Nepal in September 2022,“ said Indian police in widely reported news.

Police arrested the man under an FIR registered under Sections 420 (cheating), 495 (concealing marriage), 468 (forgery) and 471 (forging documents) of the Indian Penal Code, and handed over the girl to the Foreigners Regional Registration Office.

Published in Dawn, February 21st, 2023