‘Afghan Girl’ Sharbat Gula to be deported from Pakistan

Afghanistan’s beloved icon, National Geographic’s famous ‘Afghan Girl’, is to be deported from Pakistan after serving 15 days in prison and paying a Rs. 110,000 fine for possessing a fake Computerized National Identity Card (CNIC).

Sharbat Gula was arrested from Peshawar by the Federal Investigation Authority (FIA) for illegally possessing a Pakistani CNIC on October 20. A case was registered against her and three former National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) employees for issuing the illegal card to her.

Since the time she was arrested, majority of the people sided with her and pleaded with the government to let her off easy and let her go back to her home country. Afghanistan’s Ambassador to Pakistan Dr. Omar Zakhilwal had also vowed to save Gula and send her send her back to Afghanistan.

After the decision regarding Gula’s case was handed out by the judge, Zakhilwal announced on social media that she was free from her legal troubles and that he was happy about the decision.

Zakhilwal said that Gula will be travelling back to Afghanistan as soon as Monday, since her sentence duration started since she got arrested. He said that she will be met by President Ashraf Ghani upon her arrival to welcome her back to her home country and the state will also help her with resettlement.

Sharbat Gula fled Afghanistan during Soviet occupation of her country and she came to Peshawar. During that time, a National Geographic photographer took her picture which later made it to the cover of the magazine in 1985. She famously came to be known as the ‘Afghan Girl’ and since then the world has been captivated by her famous hazel-green eyes.

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=54092

Posted by fatimaarshad on Nov 4 2016. Filed under Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.