Pakistan will not deport Sharbat Gula, National Geographic’s iconic green-eyed ‘Afghan girl’, for using fake identity papers to stay in Peshawar, a media report quoted an official as saying on Sunday.
Ms. Gula was arrested on October 26, 2016 from her home in Peshawar.
A special anti-corruption and immigration court in Peshawar ordered Ms. Gula’s deportation to Afghanistan on Friday after serving a 15-day jail sentence besides slapping a fine of 1,10,000 Pakistani rupees ($1,100).
Ms. Gula will complete her sentence on Wednesday.
She will not be deported from Pakistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government official Shaukat Yousafzai said.
The Provincial Home department has also stopped implementation of the decision to deport her.
Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chairman Imran Khan requested Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak to not deport Ms. Gula.
The decision was taken on humanitarian grounds and as a goodwill gesture towards Afghanistan.
Ms. Gula, who was dubbed as ‘Mona Lisa of Afghan war’, was arrested by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) for alleged forgery of a Pakistani Computerised National Identity Card (CNIC).
She gained worldwide recognition when her image was featured on the cover of the June 1985 issue of National Geographic magazine at a time when she was about 12.
According to an interim chargesheet submitted on November 1, 2016, the prosecutor said that she accepted the main charge of faking her identity to get the CNIC.
Ms. Gula said that her late husband, Rehmat Gul, had earlier made a manual national identity card in 1988, which was used to get the CNIC with the help of an agent who was bribed.
The FIA also registered an FIR on October 20, 2016 against three former government employees for fraudulently issuing Pakistani CNICs to Afghan nationals, including Ms. Gula.
