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Geeta expresses grief over Pak philanthropist Abdul Sattar Edhi’s demise
Geeta, the deaf and mute girl, who returned to India last October after being stranded in Pakistan for 13 years, on Saturday expressed sorrow over the demise of Pakistani philanthropist Abdul Sattar Edhi.
Geeta, the deaf and mute girl, who returned to India last October after being stranded in Pakistan for 13 years, on Saturday expressed sorrow over the demise of Pakistani philanthropist Abdul Sattar Edhi.
Edhi had taken care of Geeta during her stay in Pakistan.
Geeta, who is now staying at Indore Dead Bilingual Academy (IDBA), an NGO for the speech and hearing impaired, recalled her association with Edhi and expressed her desire to interact with his family members.
IDBA manager Monica Punjabi said Geeta was informed about Edhi’s death Saturday afternoon. “She (Geeta) recalled that Abdul Sattar and his wife Bilkis Bano had kept her like their daughter and showered special attention on her,” Punjabi said.
Punjabi said Geeta told her that Edhi had even made a small temple for her so that she could continue. Geeta, who is yet to find her real parents, told Punjabi that she has pleasant memories of staying in Pakistan and misses her friends there.
Edhi, who set up the Edhi Foundation in 1974, passed away on Friday
So far several attempts have been made to trace Geeta’s parents, but without success. Recently, Geeta made a request that she should be allowed to travel by train all over the country in the hope that she would be able to recognise the place from where she boarded the train before being separated from her parents.
External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj had met Geeta last December here and assured her that the government was making every effort to trace her parents.
