[mukto-mona] From Karachi’s brothels and jails, Jakia has risen to become a respected tailor in her village

 

unsung heroes JAKIA KHATOON

From Karachi's brothels and jails, Jakia has risen to become a respected tailor in her village

Recall 22-year-old Jakia Khatoon who had a traumatic journey from her home in Tripura to Pakistani brothels and Karachi jails, and who's return hogged the national limelight last November?

'Fighting poverty is not an enjoyable option, but I don't want to go back to the brothel'

Today, Jakia is the most dependable tailor for stitching women's garments in the village of Rabindranagar under Sonamura sub-division in Tripura, on the Bangladesh border. She is the bread-winner for her eight-member family. "It's a hard life and fighting poverty is not an enjoyable option, but still, I don't want to return to those days," she says.

Her day starts early in the morning. She prepares food for the family and by 9am enters her shop, ready to take orders from customers. A self-employed woman, Jakia got the sewing machine from the Kathalia Panchayat Samity. A woman taught her stitching that has ensured her a daily income of Rs 50 to 60.

Jakia's nightmare started with her marriage in 1997 in the Comilla district of Bangladesh. The marriage lasted for a year and she was thrown out of the house. Instead of returning to her ancestral home in India, she went to Dhaka looking for a job. It was here that she found herself trapped in a sex-trafficking racket which took her to Karachi.

Jakia was sold to a brothel owner, she was brutalised and beaten. There was no hope, till a raid by the Pakistani police rescued her. But it failed to ensure her freedom as she was a 'foreigner'. She was jailed.

Her trauma ended in November 2003 when India and Pakistan decided to release prisoners as a gesture of goodwill. She, along with others, returned to India and subsequently went back to Rabindranagar.

Unable to maintain the large family, Jakia's father Dudu Mian met Tripura's Chief Minister Manik Sarkar and sought a job for her. Since Jakia was illiterate, he advised her to join the local Sarbasiksha centre. Jakia pledged to become literate. She attends the local Sarbashikha centre every evening. "I will keep the promise I made to myself. I want to live a new life," she says

http://www.tehelka.com/story_main9.asp?filename=In122504unsung

 

 

 

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