Pakistan Deports Nat Geo’s Iconic ‘Afghan Girl’ to Afghanistan
Sharbat Gula gained fame in 1984 after photographer Steve McCurry’s photo of her appeared on the magazine’s cover.
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Pakistan on Wednesday deported National Geographic's famed green-eyed “Afghan Girl” to her native Afghanistan after a regional court had convicted her on charges of carrying a forged Pakistani ID card and staying in the country illegally.
The case of Sharbat Gula has drawn international attention and criticism of Pakistani authorities over their perceived harsh treatment of the iconic refugee.
Gula and her four children were handed over to Afghan authorities at the Torkham border crossing, about 60 kilometres (37 miles) northwest of the Pakistani city of Peshawar, before dawn on Wednesday.
Earlier, a visibly unhappy Gula, clad in a blue, all-encompassing traditional women's burqa, and her children were taken from Peshawar to the border in a convoy, which included several Afghan officials, said a local government administrator Fayaz Khan.
At the crossing, Gula turned once to look back at Pakistani territory and softly murmured good wishes for the people in Pakistan – her home of many years, according to two customs officials at the scene.
Gula was arrested in late October on charges of carrying fake Pakistani ID papers and staying in Pakistan illegally. A Peshawar court later ordered her to be deported.
She gained international fame in 1984 as an Afghan refugee girl, after war photographer Steve McCurry's photograph of her, with piercing green eyes, was published on National Geographic's cover.
McCurry found her again in 2002. In 2014, she went into hiding after authorities accused her of buying fake Pakistani documents.
Khan, the local official, said Gula was to be flown to the Afghan capital of Kabul later in the day, where she was to attend a function in her honour hosted by Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.
Ghani's office did not immediately confirm that event was planned.
Peshawar provincial authorities had reportedly tried to find a legal way for Gula to stay in the country on humanitarian grounds, but she declined the offer, according to Khan.
After the Peshawar court sentenced her to 15 days in jail and a fine of $1,000, she fell ill and was admitted to Peshawar's Lady Reading hospital.
On Wednesday, the hospital staff presented Gula a bouquet of red roses before bidding her farewell, said Dr Mukhtiar Zaman. He described Gula as still being weak from her illness.
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