Lahore, Nov 30: An Indian woman, who spent 17 long years in Pakistan, will finally leave Lahore for Delhi on Friday night and is expected to be united with her family on Saturday.

Yellamilli Kejiamani, born to a Christian family in Sakhinetialli Mandal village of Godaveri District in Andhra Pradesh, succeeded in reviving her contacts with her family back in India.

Kejiamani said that she is very happy and cannot further wait to see her family.

Rao Abid Hamid, a senior official at the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) said “Kejiamani was brought to Pakistan in 1990 by Riaz from Kuwait where both of them had been working.”

“Riaz, a resident of Lahore, snatched everything she had and burnt her passport. He also tortured her before throwing her out of his house six months after she had reached Pakistan,” added Hamid.

“After losing her Indian passport, she only had a residence registration card and the phone numbers of her family members,” said Hamid.

It was through these phone numbers that the Indian authorities were able to verify her credentials and that must have helped her case.

She spent the next 10 years of her life in obscurity.

During this time she also lost her senses. Then she met Muhammad Amin, a cook, who took her to his house and provided shelter to her.

But soon her presence in his house started causing trouble for him. His neighbours filed a case against him for keeping a woman in his house without legal permission.

“Under pressure, Amin shifted her to his native village in Sahiwal District and arranged a paper marriage with her after giving her a Muslim name, Ayesha,” said Hamid

Her cousin who lives in England also came to know about her whereabouts in Pakistan.

“My father is a tenant of Kejiamani’s cousin in England. The landlady told him about her cousin, and we started working on how to help her reunion with her family,” said the man who has been hosting her in Lahore.

Hamid is surprised how quickly the situation turned in to her favour. After he wrote a letter on September 24, 2007, to the Indian high commission in Islamabad, she was granted an Indian visa.

This could not have happened, however, if Amin had not helped her to get a Pakistani identity card and a passport. (ANI)