The Afghan Mona Lisa

The plight of the iconic green-eyed Afghan girl, Sharbat Gula, is a glaring manifestation of the heartless world of global politics. Behind her thousand-yard stare, there is a story of hardship, destitute and tribulation.

Her miseries started in her childhood with the invasion of Afghanistan by the Soviet Union. Her parents died in the war and she was left alone, at the age of six, to cope with the vicissitudes of life. It was a time when the Cross met the Crescent and resulted in the so-called holy war against communism. The capitalist world led by the US started to settle scores with the Soviet Union on Afghan soil – with the full support of the Muslim world. Financial and material support was generously provided and doors were opened for the Afghan refugees.

Led by the dictator, General Ziaul Haq, Pakistan joined the Afghan-led but US-sponsored war against the Soviet Union and rendered full support to the Afghan cause and American global agenda. Pakistan welcomed millions of Afghan refugees with love and affection. The state took the land of its Pakhtun citizens and set up camps for the refugees. The status of being a refugee at that time was a source of honour, dignity and countless opportunities.

One of these refugees was the young and innocent girl with the haunting green eyes. In search of shelter, she reached the Nasir Bagh refugee camp near Peshawar after a turbulent journey. To intensify anti-Soviet propaganda, Afghan refugee camps were rather attractive destinations for the Western media. Steve McCurry, the National Geographic photographer, also reached the camp.

One a cold morning in December 1984, McCurry encountered the 12-year-old green-eyed girl in the camp and clicked a captivating picture of her, which became ‘the most recognised photograph’ in the entire history of the National Geographic Magazine. The picture appeared on the magazine’s cover in June 1985 and people started to compare her with the Mona Lisa.

Unfortunately, being an uneducated Pakhtun girl, she could not cash in on her fame. For a long time, she even did know about the photograph and her fame in the world.

With the defeat and disintegration of the Soviet Union, the US – mission accomplished – went away, leaving behind a messy and unstable Afghanistan. Like the US, McCurry also forgot the Afghan girl whose innocent stare into his camera had contributed tremendously to his fame.

However, when the flame of Afghanistan’s instability reached the World Trade Centres in 2001, the US ferociously returned with the ‘war on terror’. McCurry also came back in search of the green-eyed Afghan girl. After some effort, he found her in the Nasir Bagh refugee camp. He took another picture of her and also filmed a documentary. Reportedly, this time he bought a sewing machine for her daughter – what generosity!

Her haunting picture gave fame and wealth to McCurry and National Geographic, and proved to be an effective tool in the US global agenda. But unfortunately, it could not bring any change in her life. She remained as poor and helpless as she was in 1984. The world cashed in on her innocence but failed to heal her wounds. After remaining in the limelight for a short time in 2002, she vanished again into obscurity.

However, recently she has resurfaced, along with a big question mark on the soft image of Pakistan – thanks to our myopic policies and strategic blunders.

The deteriorating relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan and the tit-for-tat media war has worsened the situation of the Afghan refugees. The Kabul’s anti-Pakistan behaviour, inspired by India and the US, pushes Islamabad to react in the some tone. And the anti-Pakistan propaganda by the Afghan media also provokes Pakistani media into doing the same. This leads to negative repercussion for the Afghan refugees. In addition, the vested interests of some of the ruling elites of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in grabbing refugee-camp land have also contributed to the uprooting process of the refugees.

As a result, the Afghan refugees are being looked at as a burden and their arrests and repatriation have started. The green-eyed girl, Sharbat Gula, now a 44-year-old widow, has become the first victim of the policy. She was arrested on charges of illegally acquiring the Pakistani computerized national identity Card (CNIC).

I was shocked when heard that she is also suffering from a fatal disease. I requested DG ISPR General Asim Saleem Bajwa to help in her release – on humanitarian grounds – which he promised. Similarly, my friend Major Amir spoke to his friend Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan and promised me that he would bear all her medical expenses. This past Friday, however, the special anti-corruption and immigration court ordered her deportation. Chaudhry Nisar played a very positive role in her case. He ordered her transfer to the Lady Reading Hospital for treatment and even agreed on her legal stay in Pakistan. However, when I discussed it with the Afghan ambassador, he was of the opinion that President Ashraf Ghani wanted her back in Afghanistan.

Legally speaking, the court’s decision is hard to question and indeed the court showed some leniency in her imprisonment. Yet the way we handled her case has brought grave political and moral repercussions for Pakistan’s soft image of being a generous host to the Afghan refugees. Today, external forces are busy presenting Pakistan as the villain of the story. India and Afghanistan are presenting her case as a charge sheet against Pakistan. Calling the deportation a grave injustice, Amnesty International considers Sharbat Gula’s plight “emblematic of Pakistan’s cruel treatment of [the] Afghan refugees”.

Surprisingly, Imran Khan has requested Pervaiz Khattak to stop Sharbat Gula’s deportation. Too late, Mr Khan. Your timely intervention in Sharbat Gula’s arrest might have protected Pakistan’s soft image from distortion. But unfortunately, at that time, you were sitting in your luxurious house in Bani Gala with your eyes fixed on the PM House.

Our political elites and policymakers need to learn a lesson from this case. They need to pay attention to what is happening around the world. They should review our current policy regarding Afghan refugees and ensure their repatriation with dignity.

The writer works for Geo TV.

Email: saleem.safi@janggroup.com.pk