Close X
Friday, November 22, 2024
ADVT 
India

President Calls Geeta 'Symbol Of India-Pakistan Unity'

Darpan News Desk IANS, 27 Oct, 2015 11:27 AM
    A day after returning to India from Pakistan where she was stranded for years, speech and hearing impaired Geeta met President Pranab Mukherjee -- who called her "a symbol of India-Pakistan unity" -- and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and took a ride on Delhi Metro.
     
    "You are the daughter of both our countries, a symbol of India-Pakistan unity. God has listened to your prayers," Mukherjee told the 23-year-old when she called on him at Rashtrapati Bhavan.
     
    A Rashtrapati Bhavan statement said Mukherjee blessed Geeta, a Hindu who strayed into Pakistan when she was around 11 years old in 2003. Pakistan Rangers promptly handed her over to the Edhi Foundation that took care of her since then.
     
    Unable to explain who she was and from where she came, Geeta began living in Pakistan, and grew from a teenager to a young adult.
     
    The president also thanked Bilquis Bano Edhi and the Edhi Foundation for their good work in Pakistan.
     
    Before meeting the president, Geeta met Delhi Chief Minister and AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal, who asked her about her life in Pakistan and how she strayed into that country.
     
    At both meetings, Geeta was accompanied by members of Edhi Foundation.
     
     
    Geeta, who interacted with everyone with the help of a facilitator, later took a ride on Delhi Metro, travelling from the Civil Lines station in the city's north to Patel Chowk station in the heart of the capital.
     
    At the Patel Chowk station, she was taken around the Delhi Metro museum.
     
    On Monday, Geeta flew into New Delhi on Pakistan International Airlines to begin a new life on her home soil.
     
    Among the first people she called on were External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, who had taken a keen interest on her return, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
     
    Modi thanked Bilquis Edhi, wife of Karachi-based Edhi Foundation founder Abdul Sattar Edhi, for taking care of Geeta in Pakistan. He also announced a Rs.1 crore rupee donation for the foundation.
     
    On Tuesday, the NGO declined to accept the money.
     
    "Edhi has thanked Modi and politely declined to accept his announced financial help," the Dawn quoted Edhi Foundation spokesman Anwar Kazmi as saying.
     
     
    "What the Edhi family has done is too priceless to be measured but I am happy to announce a contribution of Rs.1 crore for their foundation," Modi had tweeted on Monday.
     
    Edhi Foundation is a social welfare organisation known for its extensive social work.

    MORE India ARTICLES

    Punjab Announces Rs.1 Crore Reward For Information On Desecrators Of Guru Granth Sahib

    Badal, who is also the state home minister, said the information on the heinous incident should be passed on to Bathinda range deputy inspector general of police Ranbir Singh Khattra.

    Punjab Announces Rs.1 Crore Reward For Information On Desecrators Of Guru Granth Sahib

    Dadri Lynching Saddening, But How Is Centre Responsible: PM Modi

    Dadri Lynching Saddening, But How Is Centre Responsible: PM Modi
    The opposition is trying to accuse us of communalism, but aren't they, through the same process, playing the politics of polarisation

    Dadri Lynching Saddening, But How Is Centre Responsible: PM Modi

    Kotkapura Tense After Desecration Of 'Bir' Of Holy Guru Granth Sahib

    Kotkapura Tense After Desecration Of 'Bir' Of Holy Guru Granth Sahib
    Tension mounted in Kotkapura area on Monday after over 100 pages of the Sikh holy book were found scattered in a street near a gurdwara in Bargari village

    Kotkapura Tense After Desecration Of 'Bir' Of Holy Guru Granth Sahib

    Modi's Silence Permitting 'Thuggish Violence' In India: Salman Rushdie

    Speaking to NTDV from London, Rushdie said the rising intolerance in India posed a "real grave danger" to liberties. 

    Modi's Silence Permitting 'Thuggish Violence' In India: Salman Rushdie

    Led By Sahgal, Indian Writers Renounce Awards; Script Dissent Against Intolerance

    Led By Sahgal, Indian Writers Renounce Awards; Script Dissent Against Intolerance
    Their protest is against what they call the growing intolerance within the country and the muted response of the establishment, including the Akademi, to the series of hate crimes.

    Led By Sahgal, Indian Writers Renounce Awards; Script Dissent Against Intolerance

    Novelist Dalip Kaur Tiwana Returns Padma Shri Award Over 'Communal Attacks'

    Novelist Dalip Kaur Tiwana Returns Padma Shri Award Over 'Communal Attacks'
    Patiala-based Tiwana, a noted novelist and short-story writer, said that she was returning the honour conferred on her to highlight the wrong things being done in the country.

    Novelist Dalip Kaur Tiwana Returns Padma Shri Award Over 'Communal Attacks'