Hanufa Has Not Returned in 13 Years Since Going Missing, Elderly Parents Still Wait

For nearly 13 years there has been no trace of their daughter. The elderly parents have gone to so many places, to so many people and relatives, yet no one can tell them anything. Hanufa Begum left home saying she was going for a walk, and never returned.

On Saturday at around 11am, Shanti Begum, 70, broke down in tears while speaking on the phone about her missing daughter. She lives in Peyarikhola village in Matlab Dakshin upazila of Chandpur. Her husband is Lal Mia Patwari, 80. Their youngest daughter, Hanufa Begum, left home for a walk in November 2013 and never came back.

Shanti Begum said her eyes have become blurred from crying for her daughter. The long wait has broken her physically and mentally, yet she has not been able to give up hope that her daughter will return.

Hanufa was 16 years old when she went missing. She was the youngest of four sisters and one brother. She had studied up to class eight at a local madrasa.

Hanufa's cousin Jubaida Sultana said on the phone that one afternoon in November 2013, Hanufa went out for a walk near the house. She never returned after that. She did not have a mobile phone with her.

Searching among relatives brought no trace either. Jubaida said she knew Hanufa had no personal relationship with any boy. The disappearance was reported to the police at the time, and a general diary was filed at Matlab Dakshin Police Station.

A few years ago, Hanufa's father suffered a stroke. He is now almost immobile and bedridden. Shanti Begum has become mentally unwell in grief for her daughter and does not speak properly with anyone.

A few years ago, Shanti Begum went to a local astrologer and a traditional healer. They said Hanufa is no longer alive. Since then, she has broken down further, both mentally and physically.

Jubaida said appeals for information about Hanufa have been made several times on Facebook and in local media. The elderly parents still spend their days hoping for their daughter, believing one day Hanufa will return home.

Hanufa's parents do not use mobile phones. They do not want to talk much about their daughter with anyone. On Saturday, Shanti Begum agreed to speak briefly through Jubaida's phone.

Crying, she said she had even consulted fortune-tellers and healers, who told her that her daughter is no more, that she has died. Hearing that made her even more ill; she cannot eat or sleep, and everything is finished for her. Pausing briefly, she said her daughter was a very good girl, and she does not even know whether she is alive or has been killed; she pleaded for her daughter to be brought back to her lap.

Matlab Dakshin Police Station officer-in-charge Hafizur Rahman said he would look into the general diary filed by Hanufa's family and try to search for the girl. For the family, that assurance is now a fresh reason to wait for answers to a disappearance that happened 13 years ago.