Gita, a 23-year-old hearing and speech-impaired Indian woman stranded in Pakistan for the past 15 years, will be brought back to India and efforts are on to locate her family, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said on Saturday.
In a series of tweets, Sushma Swaraj said the government was completing the "necessary formalities to bring Gita back to India".
Sushma Swaraj tweeted that during the past few days, "four families from Punjab, Bihar, Jharkhand and UP have claimed Gita as their daughter" and that she has requested the chief ministers of the respective states to "verify and report".
"Gita conveyed to the Indian High Commissioner by gestures that they are seven brothers and sisters. She also conveyed that she had visited a temple with her father. Then she wrote down 'Vaishno Devi'."
"With these details, please help locate Gita's family," the minister tweeted.
Gita's story has the elements of recent Bollywood blockbuster 'Bajrangi Bhaijaan' in which actor Salman Khan crosses the border to escort a six-year-old mute Pakistani girl back to her village.
Since her story hit the limelight earlier this week, four families have come forward to claim that Gita was their long-lost daughter.
A family from Uttar Pradesh and one from Jharkhand came forward on Friday.
Ramraj and Anara Devi, who hail from Dhamohan village in Uttar Pradesh's Pratapgarh district, claimed Gita was their daughter Savita who went missing from an ashram in Bihar 11 years ago, according to media reports.
The couple approached the authorities after seeing TV news reports and pictures of Gita, who they say is one of their six children who went missing at the age of nine.
A couple from Bokaro in Jharkhand claimed Gita was their fourth child Kokia Kumari who went missing more than a decade ago.
Earlier, another couple from Amritsar claimed Gita was their daughter Pooja, who they used to call Guddi.
MORE India ARTICLES
India's trade deficit narrows to $10 billion in April
India's trade deficit narrowed to $10.08 billion in April, sharply lower from $17.67 billion posted the corresponding month of last year, helped by lower imports and a modest increase in exports, government data showed Friday.
India's trade deficit narrows to $10 billion in April
Modi remains bookies' 'hot favourite' for PM
BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi remained as the hot favourite for bookies and punters for becoming the next prime minister while Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi lagged a distant second, sources said here Friday.
Modi remains bookies' 'hot favourite' for PM
Kejriwal attacks Modi during Varanasi roadshow
Surrounded by thousands of supporters, AAP candidate Arvind Kejriwal put up a show of strength here Friday, attacking his rival and BJP's prime ministerial aspirant Narendra Modi.
Kejriwal attacks Modi during Varanasi roadshow
CBI to probe Saradha scam, other ponzi schemes in Bengal, Odisha: SC
In a setback to West Bengal government, the Supreme Court Friday handed over investigation into Saradha chit fund scam to the CBI saying that it would hold further investigation in all the cases including those where a charge sheet has been filed.
CBI to probe Saradha scam, other ponzi schemes in Bengal, Odisha: SC
Breaking Brahmin Monopoly: Hindu Temple To Have Women, Lower-Caste Priests
Here's another traditional male bastion set to crumble. With a Supreme Court prod, the renowned 900-year old Vitthoba Temple in the pilgrim town of Pandharpur will script religious history when it appoints its first women priests as also priests from the backward classes as part of an inclusive mission.
Breaking Brahmin Monopoly: Hindu Temple To Have Women, Lower-Caste Priests
Sonia Gandhi's plane makes emergency landing
A private plane flying Congress president Sonia Gandhi was forced to make an emergency landing in Agra due to gusty winds and bad weather in New Delhi late Thursday, an official said Friday