KARACHI: Geeta is finally set to go home. The 23-year-old deaf and mute Indian girl recognised her parents through a picture sent by the Indian High Commission to Faisal Edhi’s email address about 10 days ago.

The Edhi Foundation made the announcement on Thursday after getting confirmation from Geeta.

Minutes after the media frenzy ended at the foundation’s head office in Mithadar around noon, Faisal Edhi, accompanied by his father Abdul Sattar Edhi and a few staff members, said: “A day before the high commission sent another picture which included her four brothers and a sister. The family lives in the Indian state of Bihar. She recognised all of them as soon as we showed it to her.”

However, there is a problem. He said: “Her family claims that Geeta is married and has a son. When I asked Geeta, she denied being married or having a son. So far this is the only issue we are dealing with. The Indian government knows about it and its foreign ministry asked us to get her DNA test done so that she could go to the right family.”

Faisal Edhi said Geeta would leave for India by Oct 26. Pakistan’s foreign ministry has issued her a visa and the Indian High Commiss­ion has given her travel documents.

Earlier in the day, Foreign Office spokesperson Qazi Khalilullah told journalists in Islamabad that all formalities had been completed for her repatriation and Indian response about the mode of her return was awaited.

India’s External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj tweeted: “Geeta will be back in India soon. We have located her family. She will be handed over to them only after the DNA test.”

Speaking about the initial confusion about her residence in India, Faisal Edhi said the confusion persisted because the Edhi Foundation staff lost the earlier file which had her personal details.

“She was brought to us 13 years ago by Rangers personnel who found her near our side of the border (in Punjab),” he said, adding that initially Geeta had lived at various Edhi centres in Punjab.

Faisal Edhi said Rangers brought her to Karachi because they didn’t want to take her to a prison cell, which was a usual course they took with people found near the border without documents or identification.

He said that what they knew about her story, which Geeta told them in sign language, was that she had a spat with her family and left home. After walking for hours she caught a train which brought her to Pakistan.

On the second floor of the Edhi head office building, Geeta looked calm, sitting on a bench near a window. As soon as a staff member informed her in sign language that there’s someone here to meet her, she went straight to her temple room asking him to bring everyone there.

Looking a bit tired after answering media questions about her journey back home, a babysitter at the foundation, Humaira Faiz, asked her questions on behalf of journalists in sign language. The first thing she showed was a framed picture of her parents, with other pictures of her siblings pasted together for her. When asked if she was finally ready to go home, she pointed to her small cupboard in the corner of the room.

“Everything is already packed, she says,” added Humaira, laughing with her.

Asked if she would miss this place, she smiled and nodded.

AP adds: India’s External Affairs Ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup said in New Delhi on Thursday that Geeta would come after her travel documents were sorted out.

A man identified by Geeta as her father said she was lost in a village fair, according to a New Delhi news channel.

Mr Swarup said the government had identified two institutions which were meant for people like Geeta with disabilities in case the DNA test was not conclusive.

Published in Dawn, October 16th, 2015

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