Ashraf Ghani will host Sharbat Gula on Wednesday; promises her a house in Kabul. PHOTO: EXPRESS
PESHAWAR: An iconic green-eyed ‘Afghan refugee girl’ whose 1985 photo in the National Geographic became a symbol of her country’s wars has turned down a provincial government’s request to stay in Pakistan and opted to return to her native country, the home and tribal affairs department said in a statement.
Sharbat Gulla was arrested by the FIA on October 26 from her house in the Nauthia area for possessing a fake CNIC.
Sharbat Gula – The face of Afghan plight
Sharbat Gula will complete her 15-day sentence on Wednesday. The forty-year-old mother of four children has spent most of the time in hospital since her arrest.
In a letter, she had requested jail authorities to stay her deportation till the time Afghan refugees were given extension in their stay in Pakistan, according to the statement.
The request was sent to the federal government keeping in view of legal lacunae. However, Gula decided to go back to Afghanistan, the statement said.
Family members of Gula told The Express Tribune that she wanted to go back to Afghanistan and will be meeting Afghan President Ashraf Ghani. “She will probably get her passport and then apply for a Pakistani visa because she wants to sell her property in Pakistan.”
Gula and the Afghan government, in an application submitted to the K-P government, pleaded for her departure from Pakistan to Afghanistan on completion of her 15-day sentence on Wednesday [November 9].
Meanwhile, the government on Monday delayed the planned deportation of Sharbat Gula. Waheedullah, a spokesman for the Afghan Consulate in Peshawar, said Afghan diplomats had convinced Pakistani authorities to allow her to stay in hospital until Wednesday.
She then would be delivered to the Afghan border authorities at Torkham on Wednesday and from there she would be flown to Kabul where Afghan President Ashraf Ghani would host a function in her honour.
Afghan Mona Lisa's deportation delayed for a few days
“The Afghan president has also announced a house for her in Kabul where she will live with her children,” said Waheedullah, who like many Afghans uses only one name.
A senior Pakistani official on condition of anonymity confirmed her deportation, planned for Monday, had been delayed until Wednesday. [With addition input from Reuters]
Published in The Express Tribune, November 8th, 2016.
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