AFP, New Delhi :
A young deaf and mute Indian woman who strayed into Pakistan more than twelve years ago flew to Delhi to be reunited with the people she believes are her family, the charity caring for her said, in a case famed by Bollywood.
Known only as Geeta, she was unable to identify herself or say where she came from when she wandered over one of the world’s most militarised borders from neighbouring India.
Now believed to be in her early 20’s, she has remained in Pakistan under the care of the country’s largest welfare organisation, the Edhi Foundation, living in a shelter in the port city of Karachi.
“We are happy that finally she is going home,” Faisal Edhi, son of the foundation’s founder Abdul Sattar Edhi, told media outside the charity’s office in downtown Karachi.
Even the name “Geeta” was given to her by Edhi staff.
After repeated false leads in the effort to find her family, Geeta’s story received a publicity boost in August when a Bollywood film with a similar plot became a smash hit.
“Bajrangi Bhaijaan”, featuring Indian superstars Salman Khan and Kareena Kapoor, told the story of a young Pakistani woman trapped in India.
A young deaf and mute Indian woman who strayed into Pakistan more than twelve years ago flew to Delhi to be reunited with the people she believes are her family, the charity caring for her said, in a case famed by Bollywood.
Known only as Geeta, she was unable to identify herself or say where she came from when she wandered over one of the world’s most militarised borders from neighbouring India.
Now believed to be in her early 20’s, she has remained in Pakistan under the care of the country’s largest welfare organisation, the Edhi Foundation, living in a shelter in the port city of Karachi.
“We are happy that finally she is going home,” Faisal Edhi, son of the foundation’s founder Abdul Sattar Edhi, told media outside the charity’s office in downtown Karachi.
Even the name “Geeta” was given to her by Edhi staff.
After repeated false leads in the effort to find her family, Geeta’s story received a publicity boost in August when a Bollywood film with a similar plot became a smash hit.
“Bajrangi Bhaijaan”, featuring Indian superstars Salman Khan and Kareena Kapoor, told the story of a young Pakistani woman trapped in India.
