Pushed out of their lives: Bangladeshi returnees from India struggle to rebuild

Tahidul Alam spent almost his entire adult life in Mumbai. He had gone there as a young man in search of work, taking his newlywed wife with him. In that bustling city, they had two children -- a boy and a girl -- and over 46 years, they became part of the fabric of local life. But the world they had built unravelled in weeks. After the May attack on tourists in Kashmir’s Pahalgam renewed India–Pakistan tensions, and a steady souring of India–Bangladesh relations, Mumbai police arrived at their home without warning. The family were detained and never allowed to return to their flat. Held for weeks, they were eventually transported to Agartala in Tripura state and handed to the...