Fake CNIC: Immigration court reserves judgment on Gula’s plea
Special judge likely to announce judgment on the NatGeo girl’s case today
PHOTO: EXPRESS
PESHAWAR:
An Immigration Court on Tuesday reserved its judgment in the case of National Geographic magazine’s famous cover page girl, Sharbat Gula, an Afghan national who was arrested last week for living in Pakistan on fraudulent documents. The Immigration Court’s Special Judge Farah Jamshid is likely to announce the judgment on Wednesday (today).
A special team of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) arrested Gula on October 26 from Nauthia locality of Peshawar. The FIA said the authorities were also seeking three National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) officials responsible for issuing Pakistani ID to the green-eyed woman.
When the hearing commenced on her bail application, Gula’s counsels – Abdul Latif Afridi and Mubashir Nazar – argued that the applicant was an Afghan national, who migrated to Pakistan due to war in Afghanistan in early 80s.
He said the government had set October 31 as the deadline for Afghan refugees to return their fake identity cards voluntarily. He said the deadline was not yet over when the FIA team arrested her in Peshawar.
“The applicant was ready to return the CNIC and repatriate to Afghanistan when the FIA arrested her,” he said, adding that Gula was a widow and the sole breadwinner of her family and that the court should release her on bail.
The FIA prosecutor Javed Mohmand objected that the applicant, on one hand, had an Afghan identity card while at the same time she possessed a fake Pakistani CNIC. “Some NADRA officials have been suspended in this case and an FIR is registered against them while inquiry is under way,” he added.
Two Afghan officials – Abdul Hameed and Muhammad Nasim Kakar – were also present in the court. Later talking to reporters, Hameed said that Afghanistan’s Ambassador to Pakistan Dr Omer Zakhilwal has contacted Adviser to PM on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz and the interior minister for her early release.
Gula was first photographed in 1985 by the National Geographic photographer Steve McCurry at the Nasir Bagh refugee camp in Peshawar. She was approximately 12-year-old at that time.
The photo has been likened with Leonardo Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa. National Geographic also made a short documentary about her life and dubbed her the ‘Mona Lisa of Afghan war’.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 2nd, 2016.
An Immigration Court on Tuesday reserved its judgment in the case of National Geographic magazine’s famous cover page girl, Sharbat Gula, an Afghan national who was arrested last week for living in Pakistan on fraudulent documents. The Immigration Court’s Special Judge Farah Jamshid is likely to announce the judgment on Wednesday (today).
A special team of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) arrested Gula on October 26 from Nauthia locality of Peshawar. The FIA said the authorities were also seeking three National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) officials responsible for issuing Pakistani ID to the green-eyed woman.
When the hearing commenced on her bail application, Gula’s counsels – Abdul Latif Afridi and Mubashir Nazar – argued that the applicant was an Afghan national, who migrated to Pakistan due to war in Afghanistan in early 80s.
He said the government had set October 31 as the deadline for Afghan refugees to return their fake identity cards voluntarily. He said the deadline was not yet over when the FIA team arrested her in Peshawar.
“The applicant was ready to return the CNIC and repatriate to Afghanistan when the FIA arrested her,” he said, adding that Gula was a widow and the sole breadwinner of her family and that the court should release her on bail.
The FIA prosecutor Javed Mohmand objected that the applicant, on one hand, had an Afghan identity card while at the same time she possessed a fake Pakistani CNIC. “Some NADRA officials have been suspended in this case and an FIR is registered against them while inquiry is under way,” he added.
Two Afghan officials – Abdul Hameed and Muhammad Nasim Kakar – were also present in the court. Later talking to reporters, Hameed said that Afghanistan’s Ambassador to Pakistan Dr Omer Zakhilwal has contacted Adviser to PM on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz and the interior minister for her early release.
Gula was first photographed in 1985 by the National Geographic photographer Steve McCurry at the Nasir Bagh refugee camp in Peshawar. She was approximately 12-year-old at that time.
The photo has been likened with Leonardo Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa. National Geographic also made a short documentary about her life and dubbed her the ‘Mona Lisa of Afghan war’.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 2nd, 2016.