Geeta has met her foster family: Sushma Swaraj

Though the real family of Geeta, the deaf and dumb young woman from Pakistan, is yet to be located, she has found her foster family here, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said on Monday.

As Swaraj arrived in Indore to meet Geeta, who is residing here with an organisation for the deaf and dumb and learning special language and vocational skills, the union minister hugged the young woman, saying that until her parents were found she would remain the central government's "special treasure".

On questions being raised on the logic behind bringing the young woman from a Pakistani NGO and keeping her with an NGO in India, Swaraj said neither was the NGO in Pakistan meant for the deaf and dumb people nor were they Indians.

She said that with her being in the Indore organisation, where there are many residents like her, she has developed a self-confidence that she can also do something and she is not alone but there are thousands of differently-abled like her.

Swaraj said there was certainly a difference between staying among people of other religion in a foreign country and staying in one's own motherland among her own people.

About Geeta's wish to meet Bollywood superstar Salman Khan, Swaraj said she would meet Salman and try to convince him to visit Indore and meet Geeta. "Geeta's wish will be fulfilled but the dates cannot be stated at present."

On Pakistan juvenile Ramzan, residing in Bhopal's Child Line, Swaraj said she had tried for his return. "We are ready to send him there if the Pakistan government gives documents of his Pakistani citizenship."

The minister also said that a Pakistani official should visit Ramzan and establish that he belongs to Pakistan. "If it happens, India will show the same initiative in Ramzan's case as it did in Geeta's case."