Court Orders Deportation Of Sharbat Gula, After 15-day Imprisonment

PESHAWAR, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 04th Nov, 2016 ) : A special Anti-Corruption and Immigration Court here on Friday convicted 'Afghan Girl' Sharbat Gula in fake Pakistani identity card case and ordered her deportation to Afghanistan after serving 15-day jail and paying Rs 110,000 fine.

The Nat Geo's famed 'Afghan Girl' has already served nine days in jail while she would have to remain for six more days to complete her 15-day imprisonment before she is deported to Afghanistan, her lawyer Mubashir said.

Sharbat Gula was arrested by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on October 26 from her house in Nauthia area in Peshawar City for allegedly possessing Pakistani Computerised National Identity Card (CNIC) illegally.

A day after her arrest, the United Nations High Commissioner distanced itself from Sharbat Gula, claiming that she was not a registered refugee. Sharbat Gula's lawyer, Mubashir, said the accused had pleaded guilty to all charges against her in the court.

It is to mention here that Sharbat Gula earlier sought her bail but was rejected by the court. The government of Pakistan however shifted her to a hospital from jail after she was found Hepatitis C positive and the same was acknowledged by Afghan ambassador a day before, during a press conference.

It is to mention here that Sharbat Gula had already admitted her guilt during her interrogation, but the Afghan ambassador in a press conference a day before was insisting that her late husband Rehman Gul had obtained her fake Pakistani identity card in 1988.

Sharbat Gula during the interrogation admitted that she had later obtained National Database and Registration Authority's (NADRA) CNIC through the help of an agent, who she said received some money for the task.

The FIA after interrogation later registered an FIR against three former NADRA employees for allegedly issuing CNICs to Sharbat Gula and two other Afghans who were shown as her sons in NADRA record.

The FIR maintained that after the completion of inquiry and checking of NADRA record, it had been established that three employees of NADRA Peshawar offices including Palwasha Afridi, Mohsin Ehsan and Emad fraudulently issued Pakistani CNICs to Afghan nationals, including Sharbat Gula, Wali Khan and Rauf Khan.

The accused were charged under sections 409, 419, 420, 468, 471 and 109 of the Pakistan Panel Code, Section 5(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, and Section 30 of the NADRA Ordinance. According to sources, Palwasha Afridi and Mohsin Ahsan have secured pre-arrest bail from a court in the case while the third official is absconding.