New Delhi/Karachi: India’s External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Monday directed the country’s High Commissioner in Pakistan, Dr T.C.A. Raghavan, to travel to Karachi and meet Geeta, an Indian woman who has been stranded in Pakistan for 15 years.
In response to a tweet by human rights activist Ansar Burney regarding the missing Indian girl, Swaraj said: “I have asked Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan, Dr T.C.A. Raghavan, to go to Karachi with Mrs Raghavan and meet this girl.”
Local media was instrumental in bringing Geeta’s story to light. Geeta who has a hearing and speech impairment lives with Bilqees Edhi, the wife of Abdul Sattar Edhi, Karachi’s renowned charity worker.
“The girl, whose age is about 22 to 24, keeps telling me through gestures that she wants to fly back home in an aeroplane. Sometimes, she cries a lot. I pray to Allah that she is reunited with her family soon,” Bilquis said, as reported by Dawn.
The incident follows the success of a recent Bollywood film, Bajrangi Bhaijan, which revolves around a similar story — of a girl lost in India and a man who helps her return home to Pakistan.
Burney acknowledged the efforts by the Indian government to find the woman’s parents, adding it was aided by the success of the film in both countries.
While no one knows the real name of the girl, activists refer to her as Geeta, Dawn reported.
Burney added that he had made a personal effort to help Geeta return home a few years ago. “I went to India three years ago with photos and video of Geeta to try and find her family but I couldn’t find any leads. My trust has started a cross-border campaign to try and find Geeta’s relatives so that she can be handed over to them,” Burney said, as reported by Dawn.
The woman allegedly lost her way in Lahore on a train from India almost 15 years ago. She was found by police and sent to a state-run shelter.
Thereafter, she was moved from one welfare home to another, coupled with the issue that she is unable to communicate anything.
“Efforts made by the authorities to trace her family in India produced no results and she was finally sent to Karachi. She looks much younger than her actual age because she’s very short,” Bilquis said.
