Nat Geo's 'Afghan girl' deported to Afghanistan

PESHAWAR: Nat Geo's 'Afghan girl', Sharbat Gula has been deported to Afghanistan, sources confided to Geo News Tuesday, after her punishment for holding an illegal Pakistani computerised national identity card (CNIC) ended today.

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government wanted to keep Sharbat Gula for some time in Pakistan and tried to stop her deportation, but Gula had expressed her wish to return to Afghanistan.

The Afghan girl, who garnered international fame due to her mesmerizing eyes, was deported to Afghanistan via Torkham border crossing, according to sources. She was handed over by Pakistani security officials to their Afghan counterparts.

Four of Gula's children have already been deported to their native country.

Sharbat Gula was arrested by the Federal Investigation Agency on October 26 from Nauthia for possessing an illegal Pakistani CNIC.

On Friday, she was sentenced to 15 days in prison and fined Rs 110,000 by the Peshawar High Court, after she pleaded guilty to the charges against her.

Gula, who fled Afghanistan during Soviet occupation, shot to fame after her photograph as a young refugee was published on the cover of National Geographic magazine back in 1985. Her intense stare at the camera and expressionless face likened her to the famous 'Mona Lisa' painting.

Sharbat Gula, who was pictured outside a refugee camp, became a symbol of the human cost of the Soviet War.