Shadow Correspondent
Srinagar, Apr 13:
A 28-year-old youth from Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, has returned home after getting trapped in Myanmar when he flew there in search of a better job opportunity.
Faizan Rasool from Srinagar’s Safakadal area of Downtown had, in February this year, flown to Bangkok for a job. But his “better prospects” journey took an ugly turn that led him to land in Myanmar. He got trapped there, and his family could not contact him to bring him back.
Faizan, along with 28 other Indian nationals, was lured by human traffickers to Myanmar with the promise of a job and then demanded ransom from their families.
“Faizan has returned this morning to Srinagar. We are happy that he is back with us after facing this uncertain return,” his father,
Trapped in Myanmar,
Ghulam Rasool Bhat, told ETV Bharat.
Bhat thanked all those officials and individuals who helped him in his son’s return.
In a previous report that ETV Bharat had filed about Faizan’s horrendous journey, his father Bhat had said that
Myanmar’s military had raided the area and detained 28 boys, including Faizan. The family had lost contact with him and were uncertain and unsure about his safe return.
They had appealed to the local government, and their local legislator, Mubarak Gul, had urged the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Omar Abdullah, to raise the matter with the External Affairs Ministry in New Delhi.
As per Bhat, Faizan had left for Bangkok with his friend who is his namesake, Faizan Makroo, who had informed his family they were trapped in the premises of a company named ‘Hong Sheng’.
Makroo’s family had managed to pay Rs 4.5 lakh to the company as compensation, but the Bhat is a retired government employee, and the family was too poor to arrange the amount.
“I thank Allah that my son is back,” he said, in an emotional tone. Faizan is too scared and trapped in his ordeal to narrate how he landed in this trap.
In March, the Jammu and Kashmir Students Association had said that Faizan was held hostage at ransom by human traffickers in Myanmar.
National Convenor of the Association Nasir Khuehami said that the MEA has confirmed that the Indian Mission that Indian nationals were trapped in the Myawaddy town of Myanmar.
Khuehami said that the association’s efforts and MEA’s intervention helped release and return all Indian nationals, including Faizan, home.
The association has also urged the Government of India to launch awareness campaigns and take strict action against trafficking networks operating both in India and abroad to prevent more innocent lives from falling victim to such scams.
