Journalism Pakistan
Journalism Pakistan
Even a win can't hide Pakistan's structural collapse in cricket فتح بھی پاکستان کرکٹ کے ڈھانچے کی تباہی نہیں چھپا سکتیJournalists stage walkout at post-budget briefing over government's dismissive attitude صحافیوں کا بجٹ کے بعد کی بریفنگ سے واک آؤٹ، حکومت کے توہین آمیز رویے پر احتجاجLegal storm brews as Dr. Nauman Niaz serves defamation notice on Shoaib Akhtar ڈاکٹر نعمان نیاز کی جانب سے شعیب اختر کو ہتکِ عزت کا نوٹسHRCP urges complete repeal of PECA, citing threats to free speech and civil liberties ایچ آر سی پی کا پی ای سی اے کے مکمل خاتمے کا مطالبہ، آزادی اظہار اور شہری آزادیوں کے لیے خطرہ قرارPFUJ condemns murder of journalist Syed Mohammad Shah, urges immediate justice پی ایف یو جے کا صحافی سید محمد شاہ کے قتل کی مذمت، قاتل کی فوری گرفتاری کا مطالبہState within a state? Police block reinstated Jang employees from resuming duties ریاست کے اندر ریاست؟ جنگ گروپ کے بحال شدہ ملازمین کو دفتر جانے سے روک دیا گیاMoeed Pirzada to report journalist Fakhar Durrani to FBI over alleged data theft معروف صحافی معید پیرزادہ کا فخر درانی کے خلاف ایف بی آئی کو رپورٹ کرنے کا فیصلہ

National Geographic 'Afghan girl' arrested

 JournalismPakistan.com |  Published October 26, 2016

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National Geographic 'Afghan girl' arrested

PESHAWAR - An Afghan woman immortalised on a celebrated National Geographic magazine cover as a green-eyed 12-year-old girl was arrested Wednesday for living in Pakistan on fraudulent identity papers.

The haunting image of Sharbat Gula, taken in a Pakistan refugee camp by photographer Steve McCurry in the 1980s, became the most famous cover image in the magazine's history.

Her arrest highlights the desperate measures many Afghans are willing to take to avoid returning to their war-torn homeland as Pakistan cracks down on undocumented foreigners.

Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) arrested Gul for fraud following a two-year investigation on her and her husband, who has absconded.

Investigators, who have uncovered thousands of fraud cases over the last decade, launched a probe into her application shortly after she procured the card.

"FIA arrested Sharbat Gula, an Afghan woman, for obtaining a fake ID card," Shahid Ilyas, an FIA official, told AFP.

Ilyas said the authorities were also seeking three National Database Registration Authority (NADRA) officials found responsible for issuing the national identity card to Gula, who have been at large since the fraud was uncovered.

He said that Gula faces seven to 14 years in prison and a fine of $3,000-$5,000 if convicted.

In reality she is unlikely to serve such a harsh sentence -- many Afghans who have been convicted in similar cases have been deported before they could be sent to prison.

Officials say Gula applied for a Pakistani identity card in Peshawar in April 2014, using the name Sharbat Bibi.

Thousands of Afghan refugees have managed to dodge Pakistan's computerised system to get an identity card.

The photo attached to her application featured the same piercing green eyes seen in McCurry's famous image, only older.

The original photograph was taken in 1984 in a refugee camp in northwest Pakistan during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.

McCurry later tracked her down, after a 17-year search, to a remote Afghan village in 2002 where she was married to a baker, and the mother of three daughters. - AFP

 

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