Geeta expresses grief over Edhi's death

Edhi Foundation had looked after the hearing and speech-impaired girl after she was stranded in Pakistan for 13 years

Geeta, an Indian citizen who returned to her country last October after being stranded in Pakistan for 13 years, has expressed sorrow over the demise of renowned philanthropist, celebrated humanitarian and the icon of social and welfare service in Pakistan, Abdul Sattar Edhi.

Edhi Foundation had looked after the hearing and speech-impaired girl after she was stranded in Pakistan. After learning that Geeta was an Indian citizen, Edhi left no stone unturned to locate Geeta’s family in India.

Staying at India’s Indore Dead Bilingual Academy (IDBA), an NGO for the speech and hearing impaired, Geeta recalled her association with Edhi and expressed her desire to interact with his family members, according to the Hindustan Times.



“She recalled that Abdul Sattar and his wife Bilquis Bano had kept her like their daughter and showered special attention on her,” IDBA manager Monica Punjabi said, adding Geeta was informed about Edhi’s death Saturday afternoon.

The IDBA manager further said Geeta had told her about how Edhi had even made her a small temple so that she could continue to perform her prayers. The 23-year-old woman, who is yet to find her real parents, told Punjabi that she has pleasant memories of staying in Pakistan and misses her friends there.

So far several attempts have been made to trace Geeta’s parents, but without success.

Recently, Geeta made a request that she should be allowed to travel by train all over India in hopes that she would be able to recognise the place from where she boarded the train before being separated from her parents.

India’s External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had met Geeta last December and assured her that the government was making every effort to trace her parents.

This article originally appeared on the Hindustan Times.