New Delhi, Oct 26: External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj on Monday welcomed Geeta, the speech and hearing impaired Indian woman, on her arrival in India.
"Geeta - Welcome home our daughter.," tweeted Swaraj.
Escorted by five members of the Edhi Foundation, Geeta emerged from the special entrance at the IGI airport surrounded by officials.
Swaraj will brief the media at 3pm today with details about Geeta's arrival. Pakistan's high commissioner Abdul Basit will host Geeta and the Edhi delegation this evening.
???? - ???? ?? ???? ?? ???? ??? ??????. Geeta - Welcome home our daughter.
— Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) October 26, 2015
She will be handed over to her real parents after the DNA test. The ministry of external affairs had earlier said if the DNA does not match then she will be accommodated at either of the two identified institutions in Delhi and Indore.
A daughter returns home. Geeta arrives in New Delhi accompanied by members of Edhi Foundation pic.twitter.com/v0CIu7RWmc
— Vikas Swarup (@MEAIndia) October 26, 2015
Geeta was reportedly just seven or eight years old when she was found sitting alone on the Samjhauta Express by the Pakistan Rangers 15 years ago at the Lahore railway station. The police then took her to the Edhi Foundation in Lahore and later she was shifted to Karachi.
Geeta, stuck in Pakistan for over a decade, arrives in Delhi
New Delhi, Oct 26: Geeta, dressed in a red and white salwar kameez, her head covered with a dupatta, smiled as she boarded a Pakistan International Airlines flight from Karachi on Monday morning. Two hours later, the 23-year-old landed in Delhi to be re-united with her family after 11 years.
Geeta is hearing and speech impaired. She has lived in Pakistan ever since she accidentally crossed the border as a child. Earlier this month, she identified her father, step-mother and siblings from one of many photographs sent to her by the Indian High Commission in Islamabad.
Janardhan Mahto from Bihar, the man Geeta identified as her father, is in Delhi to receive her. "I am very happy and back in the village it is just like Diwali, the atmosphere is festive," he said.
Mr Mahto has five sons and two daughters. Geeta, he has claimed, is his first born Heera, who was lost in a fair in 2004.
In Karachi, where Geeta has been taken care of by the charitable Edhi Founadtion all these years, she was given an emotional farewell. She travelled to Delhi with Bilkis Edhi of the foundation, who has been a mother to Geeta since she was found in Pakistan in 2004.
Bilkis Edhi's grandson Fahad told news agency PTI, "She will be accompanied by me, my father Faisal Edhi, my mother and my grandmother Bilqees Edhi...We are going with her because she recognised the family in the photograph sent to us by the Indian High Commission as her family. But DNA tests will confirm this."
Fahad Edhi said they had been assured by the Indian government that they could remain in Delhi till the DNA tests were done and that if they were negative, Geeta would be placed in safe custody.
Geeta was reportedly just 11 or 12 years old when the Pakistan Rangers found her sitting alone on the Samjhauta Express from Delhi at the Lahore railway station.
Her story has been compared to the Salman Khan's blockbuster "Bajrangi Bhaijaan", about a little girl from Pakistan stuck in India. The actor plays Bajrangi, a man who made it his mission to take the girl to her family in Pakistan.
Geeta broke down in tears on watching "Bajrangi Bhaijaan" and yearned for home, something she shared with actor Salman Khan on NDTV. As Geeta's story gained fresh media attention after the film, the Indian government vowed to bring her back in a movie-style happy ending.
Comments
Add new comment