Syeda Wahaj Fatima is a resident of Moula Ali on the outskirts of Hyderabad. She has written a letter to the External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and it is extremely shocking. In her letter she said that her daughter, Syeda Lulu Minhaj Zaidi (37) went to the USA in August 2021 to pursue her Master’s in Information Science from TRINE University in Detroit. However, for the last two months, there was no contact with her daughter. Recently, two youths hailing from Hyderabad informed Fatima that her daughter was starving on the streets of Chicago as a beggar. All her belongings were stolen, she was begging on the streets and is battling depression. She requested the Indian government, the External Affairs Minister and the Indian Embassy in the US to send her daughter back to India as soon as possible. Fatima has said that her daughter can be traced with the help of Mohammed Minaj Akhter, a social activist in Chicago. Now a video of Zaidi has gone viral on social media. The video was shared on Twitter by Amjed Ullah Khan, a social worker and spokesperson of Hyderabad-based Majlis Bachao Tehreek. In the video, a man can be heard asking Zaidi about her condition. She said she was taken to the hospital for treatment, but she became weaker after her blood samples were taken. The man can be seen offering her food and advising her to return to India. She said an Afghani man helped her while she was in Ohio. Zaidi looks extremely malnourished. Amjed Ullah Khan also shared the Zaidi’s passport copies.He also shared the letter written by her mother Fatima. Khan said that could not recognise even her mother during a video call and that they could not get any details from her regarding what happened to her or how she reached Chicago from Detroit. The Twitter handle Ministry of External Affairs responded that a case had been registered on its portal and forwarded to the “mission or post concerned for necessary action”. The Twitter handle of the Consulate General of India in Chicago has also responded to the tweet and is taking necessary steps to help Zaidi. Khan said that, ‘The Hyderabadi youths who found her on the road beside a mosque contacted the same organization which helped her find a local job while she was studying in Detroit. Fortunately, they had a copy of her passport from where they could get her address in Hyderabad and reach out to her family. The mother recalls Minhaj saying that she was having disturbing visions.” According to Khan, the consulate authorities have decided to send her back to Hyderabad along with a nurse if she is stable and can travel. “Since she is not in a stable condition mentally, we are trying to get the parents to travel to the US. Her parents are extremely poor and do not possess passports. We have approached the state government too for assistance in getting a passport and visa,” he said.

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