Sharbat Gula, the green-eyed Afghan woman whose photograph as a young refugee girl was published on the cover of National Geographic magazine three decades ago, received a warm welcome on November 9 from Afghanistan’s president after she was deported from Pakistan.
According to Pajhwok Afghan News, a statement from the Presidential Palace said after Sharbat Gula’s arrival in the country, the president and first lady met her and her family at the Palace.
Ms. Gula was received warmly by President Ashraf Ghani, in line with his government’s policies to encourage Afghans to come back to their country, and he handed over the key to a government-provided apartment in Kabul to Ms. Gula, according to Shah Hussain Murtazawi, a presidential spokesman.
Mr. Murtazawi said that the Afghan government had arranged for Ms. Gula’s release from detention and her return to Afghanistan.
Ms. Gula was arrested by the Pakistani authorities two weeks ago on charges of obtaining false identity documents, a common practice among Afghans in Pakistan, who have been subjected to roundups and arbitrary arrests in efforts to force them to return to Afghanistan.
She was sentenced to detention for two weeks, and ordered deported, a move criticized by Amnesty International.
“Pakistan’s decision to deport Sharbat Gula is a grave injustice,” said Champa Patel, the group’s South Asia director. “For decades, she was known as the world’s most famous refugee and seen as a symbol of Pakistan’s status as a generous host.”
“Now, by sending her back to a country she hasn’t seen in a generation and her children have never known, her plight has become emblematic of Pakistan’s cruel treatment of Afghan refugees,” Ms. Patel noted.
Gula gained global recognition when her photograph was featured on National Geographic’s cover in 1985 and was linked with Leonardo Da Vinci’s Mona.
Sharbat Gula now is a widow in her 40s and the mother of four. She had been residing together with her sons in Nasir Bagh camp established for Afghan refugees since she moved to Peshawar in 1984.
Sharbat Gula was 12 years old when she was photographed by Steve McCurry in a refugee camp in Pakistan, in December 1984. The haunting image of the green-eyed girl became an international symbol of refugees and of political and social unrest in the region. It has been widely reproduced, making her one of the most recognizable non-celebrity faces of the 20th century.
