KARACHI: Shah Alam traveled from his home in Bangladesh to Pakistan for a brief visit nearly three decades ago, but flaring hostility between the two countries and financial woes left him stranded in the megacity of Karachi.
Now the 60-year-old, who makes a modest living selling dried seafood, is determined to return to his birthplace, having already missed the deaths of his parents and first wife in Bangladesh.
Direct flights between Pakistan and Bangladesh — one nation until 1971 — finally resumed last month after a 14-year pause, reflecting a warming of once-frosty ties since a Bangladeshi student-led uprising ushered in new leadership in 2024.
Shah Alam has already started planning his trip to be reunited with remaining family.
“I will go,” he told AFP with teary eyes.
