Government making efforts to bring Geeta back from Pakistan: Vikas Swarup

NEW DELHI: India is in the process of shortlisting institutions where Geeta, the deaf and mute Indian girl stuck in Pakistan for more than a decade, could be put up once she is brought back from that country, pending identification of her family.

Four families from Punjab, Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh have claimed Geeta to be their daughter and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has asked Chief Ministers of these states to send photographs of the parents which could be sent to her for identification.

Spokesperson in the External Affairs Ministry Vikas Swarup said the photographs will be sent to Geeta and if she recognises any of them, than next step would be to go for DNA testing to identify her parents.

"We want to show the pictures to Geeta. If she says yes this could be my parents, then next step would be DNA testing," Swarup told reporters.

He said Government was making efforts to bring Geeta back from Pakistan. "We are completing necessary formalities required to bring her back and for her to find a safe place where she can be rehabilitated and can be given requisite skills till she finds her parents," he said.

Geeta, 23, is believed to have mistakenly crossed into Pakistani territory as a child. She was 7-8 years old when she was found by the Pakistan Rangers 15 years ago from Lahore railway station, according to reports from Pakistan.