This is the example of reaching heights of humanity and spirituality, to raise a Hindu child in Hindu tradition. It is difficult in a nation like Pakistan to do so, but there are so many good people out there, and am glad to read this story and share it at http://foundationforpluralism.blogspot.com
Mike Ghouse
# # #
With all the improbability of the Bollywood hit Bajrangi
Bhaijaan – a film about a mute Pakistani girl lost in India – Geeta’s
story has attracted intense public interest and some high-level cooperation
between two rival governments.
It led to fresh leads, including a family in the Indian
state of Bihar which Geeta enthusiastically recognised as her own after Indian
diplomats in Islamabad arranged for photographs to be sent to the Edhi
Foundation.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) October 26, 2015
The effort to repatriate her comes at a time when both
countries have accused each other of supporting terrorist groups and have
struggled to conduct normal business, including striking agreements on
international cricket fixtures.
Mike Ghouse
# # #
'Bajrangi Bhaijaan' woman stuck in Pakistan for 13 years goes home to India
Story of Geeta, who is deaf and mute, mirrors that of
Bollywood hit, but happy ending might prove elusive
A young deaf-mute Indian woman stranded in Pakistan for
13 years has finally returned to her homeland despite uncertainty over whether
she will ever succeed in finding her family.
Known as Geeta, the woman received a hero’s welcome at
Delhi airport on Monday before being whisked away for a meeting with India’s
foreign minister, Sushma Swaraj, and a DNA test that, it is hoped, will confirm
she belongs to a family from Bihar she recently recognised from
photographs.
Geeta, who is now in her early 20s, was found alone,
confused and without identification papers in Lahore in 2002 after apparently
boarding a train from India.
She was taken in by the Edhi Foundation, a major
Pakistani charity based in Karachi, the city where she has lived for more than a
decade in a shelter with a small temple provided for her personal
use.
Abdul Sattar Edhi and his wife Bilquis took a close interest in her upbringing, even choosing the
name by which she is now known.
Although Bilquis reportedly hoped to find a suitable
husband for Geeta from among Pakistan’s Hindu minority, the young woman herself
never gave up hope of returning home.
There were few clues to go on, however. An Indian phone
number she wrote down for her guardians was incomplete and no one in Karachi was
able to decipher her writing.
Her story has been muddled. By one account she somehow
wandered across one of the most heavily militarised borders in the world after
getting lost at a religious festival.
But her luck changed when the Edhis decided to
capitalise on interest in the release of Bajrangi Bhaijaan this summer to
republicise her plight.
Their version of events, however, is that their daughter
was married and had a child when she left home. It is at odds with what Geeta
has communicated about herself though sign language.
After arriving in the Indian capital the foreign
minister Swaraj said Geeta was “refusing to recognise her family”. “It doesn’t
matter if we find her parents or not, she is a daughter of India and we will
take care of her,” Swaraj told journalists.
Members of the Bihar family were present at the airport
on Monday morning to try and greet the young woman.
“It’s been a long wait,” said Vinod Kumar, who claims to
be her brother. “We thank both the countries for their efforts to unite Geeta
with the family.”
Although an evening reception in her honour at the
Pakistani High Commission in Delhi was cancelled in light of the deadly earthquake that struck the region on Monday, Geeta
had a busy first day back in India, which culminated in a meeting with prime
minister Narendra Modi.
“It was truly wonderful to have you back home,” he
tweeted to his 15.7m followers, in addition to praising the Edhis for looking
after her.
Welcome Geeta. It is truly wonderful to have you back
home. Was truly a delight to spend time with you today. pic.twitter.com/DngJF2Tk31
Relations have also been soured by increasingly strident
anti-Pakistan agitation by far-right Hindu nationalists. On Saturday a play
featuring Pakistani actors in Delhi was disrupted by
activists.
Minutes after Pakistan’s foreign ministry published a
statement wishing Geeta well on Monday, the government in Islamabad announced it
had summoned a top Indian diplomat for a dressing down over “unprovoked
ceasefire violations” along a section of the border contested by
Pakistan.
Pakistan said a 15-year-old girl was among the three
people killed in the firing, calling it a “detestable and deplorable
act”.
Courtesy of Guardian
# # #
# # #
