UNHCR distances itself from ‘Afghan Mona Lisa’

Says she is an undocumented Afghan refugee

SHABQADAR: The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on Thursday distanced itself from Sharbat Gula, the ‘Afghan Mona Lisa’, who has been arrested by the Federal Investigation Agency for holding illegal Computerised National Identity Card (CNIC).

Speaking to The Express Tribune, UNHCR spokesperson Dunya Aslam Khan said that Gula is an undocumented Afghan refugee and the UNHCR can only help documented refugees.



A special team of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) arrested Gula from Nauthia, the old quarters of Peshawar, following a two-year investigation on her and her husband, who has absconded.

The team also recovered a fraudulently acquired Pakistani CNIC and an Afghan identity card from her possession. Investigators, who have uncovered thousands of fraud cases over the last decade, launched a probe into her application shortly after she procured the CNIC.

Following reports of Gula’s arrest, the Afghan government and Awami National Party vowed to secure her release.



ANP’s national youth organisation chairman Mohsin Dawar said the party planned on filing a bail application for her release in the court on Thursday. Dawar believed that since Gula’s case was only based on a fake ID it would be very difficult to get her bail.

Meanwhile, Afghan Ambassador in Pakistan Omar Zakhilwal vowed to secure Gula’s release. “I have received information through the media that the Pakistani police have arrested the most famous face in Afghanistan that attracted the attention of the international community,” Zakhilwal said.

“I am confident that she would not only be released as soon as possible but would be repatriated to the country with her family with honour and dignity,” Zakhilwal said.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 28^th, 2016.