Baglung, April 8 -- Shyam Kumar Gharti of Bhayarbonga in Tamankhola Rural Municipality-2 in Baglung, went to Bahrain illegally in 2007 in search of a job through an agent. He lacked necessary documents, including a labour permit.

Shyam, 41, lost contact six months after reaching Bahrain. His family was unaware about his whereabouts since then. The family's woes deepened when his mother eloped with another man a year after his departure, leaving behind his deaf father, Lal Bahadur, who, unaware of the procedures, could not pursue a search for his missing son.

Lal Bahadur continued living in the village, surviving on wage labour for years without any information about his son's whereabouts. It was only in mid-February last year that the N...