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Imran requests KP govt not to deport 'Afghan Girl' Sharbat Gula

By Web Desk
November 05, 2016

ISLAMABAD: PTI chief Imran Khan on Friday requested the government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and its Chief Minister Pervez Khattak to not deport National Geographic's famous 'Afghan Girl' Sharbat Gula. 

Khan conveyed his request to the government and Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa via a tweet on micro-blogging site Twitter. In the tweet, the cricketer-turned-politician urged the KP CM not to deport Gula on 'humanitarian/compassionate' grounds. 

Sharbat Gula was arrested by the Federal Investigation Agency from Nauthia Peshawar last month for possessing a fake National Identity Card of Pakistan. An inquiry was conducted into the matter as to how Sharbat Gula was issued a fake CNIC and it was established that three employees of Nadra including Palwasha Afridi, Mohsin Ehsan and Emad fraudulently issued identity cards to the three Afghan nationals, including Sharbat Gula, Wali Khan and Rauf Khan.

A special anti-corruption and immigration court in Peshawar ordered the girl to be deported from Pakistan to Afghanistan on Friday. Sharbat Gula rose to international fame and prominence after her picture appeared on the cover of National Geographic's June 1985 issue. She was dubbed as the 'Afghan Girl' and 'The Mona Lisa of Afghanistan'. 

Her picture was taken by a photographer at a refugee camp in Peshawar known as Nasir Bagh camp. At the time her picture was taken, she was twelve years old.