Three months on, a Jendaidah mother waits for her missing son

Shah Alam Siddique Imon, 24, has been missing in Egypt for more than three months. UNB

Jhenaidah, Jan 29 - For three months, Shahinara Khatun has not heard her son’s voice.

Her phone no longer rings. No message arrives. Each day, she sits by the window of her home at Bankira village of Jenaidah’s Sadhuhati union, watching the road in quiet hope—perhaps today someone will call, perhaps she will hear the familiar words, “Ma, how are you?” But the call never comes.

Shah Alam Siddique Imon, 24, has been missing in Egypt for more than three months and his family does not know whether he is alive or dead.

Imon (passport number is A-08093076) left for Egypt about six months ago, chasing the promise of a better future, said his family members.

With the help of a broker named Imrul from Narail, he secured work at a garment factory there named Billikes Mill.

He spoke to his family regularly and sent reassurances home and everything seemed fine.

But,  suddenly all communication stopped.

According to the family, a young man named Hanif from Bahirgachhi village in Kotchandpur called them one day to say that Imon had lost his mental balance.

November 13, 2025, was the last day the family heard from him.

Since then, he has vanished without a trace, they said.

Adding to their agony, the broker who arranged Imon’s migration has also gone silent.

Though Imrul initially stayed in touch, he now refuses to answer calls. His associates, the family says, have no information either.

Wiping away tears, Imon’s mother asks questions no one can answer.

“Does my son get food? Where does he sleep? Is he even alive?” Shahinara Khatun says, her voice breaking. “I just want to know where my child is.”

His father, Hasan Ali, said poverty forced them to take the risk. “We are poor people. We sent our son abroad so he wouldn’t have to suffer like us. Now he is the one who is lost. If the authorities don’t stand beside us, what can we do?”

Local UP member Shahidul Islam Monsad said the prolonged absence of any information about Imon has left the family devastated.

“We have informed the union chairman and the district administration so that steps can be taken to trace him,” he said.

Sadhuhati Union Parishad Chairman Kazi Nazrul Uddin said the family is being assisted in whatever way possible and urged organisations working on migrant welfare to intervene.

“This is a humanitarian issue,” he said. “NGOs and human rights organisations working with migrant workers should come forward.”

The family has appealed for urgent intervention from the Bangladesh government, the Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment, the Bangladesh Embassy in Egypt, and migrant rights organisations.

They are also demanding accountability of the broker network and diplomatic efforts to determine Imon’s fate.

Family contact: 01738-457102